TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrichs, U. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Design optimization of the PMT-ClearPET prototypes based on simulation studies with GEANT3 JF - 2002 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - Within the Crystal Clear Collaboration four centres are developing 2nd generation high performance small animal PET scanners for different kinds of animals and medical applications. The first prototypes are PMT-based systems including depth of interaction (DOI) detection by using a phoswich layer of LSO and LuYAP. The aim of these simulation studies is to optimize sensitivity and spatial resolution of given designs, which vary in FOVs caused by different detector configurations (ring/octagon) and sizes. For this purpose the simulation tool GEANT3 (CERN) was used. The simulations have shown that all PMT designs with one-to-one coupling of crystals have a very nonlinear axial sensitivity profile. By shifting every other PMT 1/4 of a PMT length in axial direction the sampling of the FOVs became more homogeneous. At an energy threshold of 350keV the regression coefficient increases from 0.818 for the non-shifted to 0.993 for the shifted design. Simulations of a point source centred in the FOV (threshold: 350keV) resulted in sensitivities of 4.2% for a 4×20PMT (LSO/LuYAP a 10mm) and 3.8% for a 4×16PMT (LSO/LuYAP a 8mm) ring design. The 3D-MLEM reconstruction of a point source shows the enormous improvement of resolution using a crystal double layer with DOI (3.1mm at 40mm from CFOV) instead of a 20mm single layer (11.9mm). Y1 - 2003 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 682 EP - 686 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrichs, U. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Design optimization of the PMT-ClearPET prototypes based on simulation studies with GEANT3 JF - IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science N2 - Within the Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC), four centers are developing second generation high performance small animal positron emission tomography (PET) scanners for different kinds of animals and medical applications. The first prototypes are photomultiplier tube (PMT)-based systems including depth of interaction (DOI) detection by using a phoswich layer of lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) and lutetium yttrium aluminum perovskite (LuYAP). The aim of these simulation studies is to optimize sensitivity and spatial resolution of given designs, which vary in fields of view (FOVs) caused by different detector configurations (ring/octagon) and sizes. For this purpose the simulation tool GEANT3 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland) was used. Y1 - 2003 SN - 0018-9499 VL - 50 IS - 5 SP - 1428 EP - 1432 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Saleh, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Pulse shape discrimination of LSO and LuYAP scintillators for depth of interaction detection in PET JF - 2002 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - A feasible way to gain the depth of interaction information in a PET scanner is the use of phoswich detectors. In general the layer of interaction is identified front the pulse shape of the corresponding scintillator material. In this work pulses from LSO and LuYAP crystals were investigated in order to find a practical method of distinguishing. It turned out that such a pulse processing could he kept simple due to an additional slow component in the light decay of the LuYAP pulse. At the same time the short decay time guarantees that the major amount of the light output is still collected within a short pulse recording time. Y1 - 2003 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 1636 EP - 1639 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Saleh, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Pulse shape discrimination of LSO and LuYAP scintillators for depth of interaction detection in PET JF - IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science N2 - A feasible way to gain the depth of interaction information in a positron emission tomography scanner is the use of phoswich detectors. In general, the layer of interaction is identified from the pulse shape of the corresponding scintillator material. In this work, pulses from LSO and LuYAP crystals were investigated in order to find a practical method of distinguishing. It turned out that such a pulse processing could be kept simple because of an additional slow component in the light decay of the LuYAP pulse. At the same time, the short decay time guarantees that the major amount of the light output is still collected within a short pulse recording time. Y1 - 2003 SN - 0018-9499 VL - 50 IS - 3 SP - 344 EP - 347 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Chaziioannou, A. F. A1 - Weber, S. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. T1 - Investigation of different microCT scanner configurations by GEANT4 simulations JF - 2003 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 4 N2 - This study has been performed to design the combination of the new ClearPET TM (ClearPET is a trademark of the Crystal Clear Collaboration), a small animal Positron Emission Tomography (PET) system, with a microComputed Tomography (microCT) scanner. The properties of different microCT systems have been determined by simulations based on GEANT4. We demonstrate the influence of the detector material and the X-ray spectrum on the obtained contrast. Four different detector materials (selenium, cadmium zinc telluride, cesium iodide and gadolinium oxysulfide) and two X-ray spectra (a molybdenum and a tungsten source) have been considered. The spectra have also been modified by aluminum filters of varying thickness. The contrast between different tissue types (water, air, brain, bone and fat) has been simulated by using a suitable phantom. The results indicate the possibility to improve the image contrast in microCT by an optimized combination of the X-ray source and detector material. Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 2989 EP - 2993 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Brökel, M. A1 - Fuss, L. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - The ClearPET data acquisition JF - 2003 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 5 N2 - Within the Crystal Clear Collaboration a modular system for a small animal PET scanner (ClearPET™) has been developed. The modularity allows the assembly of scanners of different sizes and characteristics in order to fit the specific needs of the individual member institutions. Now a first demonstrator is being completed in Julich. The system performs depth of interaction detection by using a phoswich arrangement combining LSO and LuYAP scintillators which are coupled to multi-channel photomultipliers (PMTs). A free-running ADC digitizes the signal from the PMT and the complete scintillation pulses are sampled by an FPGA and sent with 20 MB/S to a PC for preprocessing. The pulse provides information about the gamma energy and the scintillator material which identifies the interaction layer. Furthermore, the exact pulse starting time is obtained from the sampled data. This is important as no hardware coincidence detection is implemented. All single events are recorded and coincidences are identified by software. An advantage of that is that the coincidence window and the dimensions of the field of view can be adjusted easily. The ClearPET™ demonstrator is equipped with 10240 crystals on 80 PMTs. This paper presents an overview of the data acquisition system. Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 3097 EP - 3100 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Christ, D. A1 - Hollendung, A. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Weber, S. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Homogenization of the MultiChannel PM gain by inserting light attenuating masks JF - 2003 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 4 N2 - MultiChannel Photomultipliers (PM), like the R7600-00-M64 or R5900-00-M64 from Hamamatsu, are often chosen as photodetectors in high-resolution positron emission tomography (PET). A major problem of this PM is the nonuniform channel gain. In order to solve this problem, light attenuating masks were created. The aim of the masks is a homogenization of the output of all 64 channels using different hole sizes at the channel positions. The hole area, which is individually defined for the different channels, is inversely proportional to the channel gain. The measurements by inserting light attenuating masks improved a homogenization to a ratio of 1:1.2. Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 2382 EP - 2385 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Heinrichs, U. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. T1 - Validation of GEANT3 simulation studies with a dual-head PMT ClearPET™ prototype JF - 2003 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 5 N2 - The ClearPET™ project is proposed by working groups of the Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC) to develop a 2nd generation high performance small animal positron emission tomograph (PET). High sensitivity and high spatial resolution is foreseen for the ClearPET™ camera by using a phoswich arrangement combining mixed lutetium yttrium aluminum perovskite (LuYAP:Ce) and lutetium oxyorthosilicate (LSO) scintillating crystals. Design optimizations for the first photomultiplier tube (PMT) based ClearPET camera are done with a Monte-Carlo simulation package implemented on GEANT3 (CERN, Geneva, Switzerland). A dual-head prototype has been built to test the frontend electronics and was used to validate the implementation of the GEANT3 simulation tool. Multiple simulations were performed following the experimental protocols to measure the intrinsic resolution and the sensitivity profile in axial and radial direction. Including a mean energy resolution of about 27.0% the simulated intrinsic resolution is about (1.41±0.11)mm compared to the measured of (1.48±0.06)mm. The simulated sensitivity profiles show a mean square deviation of 12.6% in axial direction and 3.6% in radial direction. Satisfactorily these results are representative for all designs and confirm the scanner geometry. Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 3053 EP - 3056 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Christ, D. A1 - Hellendung, A. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Effects of crosstalk and gain nonuniformity using multichannel PMTs in the Clearpet® scanner JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment N2 - The ClearPET® scanners developed by the Crystal Clear Collaboration use multichannel PMTs as photodetectors with scintillator pixels coupled individually to each channel. In order to localize an event each channel anode is connected to a comparator that triggers when the anode signal exceeds a common predefined threshold. Two major difficulties here are crosstalk of light and the gain nonuniformity of the PMT channels. Crosstalk can generate false triggering in channels adjacent to the actual event. On the one hand this can be suppressed by sufficiently increasing the threshold, but on the other hand a threshold too high can already prevent valid events on the lower gain channels from being detected. Finally, both effects restrict the dynamic range of pulse heights that can be processed. The requirements to the dynamic range are not low as the ClearPET® scanners detect the depth of interaction by phoswich pixels consisting of LSO and Lu0.7Y0.3AP, two scintillators with different light yields. We will present a model to estimate the achievable dynamic range and show solutions to increase it. Y1 - 2005 SN - 0168-9002 N1 - Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Inorganic Scintillators and their Use in Scientific and Industrial Applications VL - 537 IS - 1-2 SP - 402 EP - 405 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Beer, S. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Hombach, T. A1 - Buehler, J. A1 - Jahnke, S. A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Minwuyelet, S. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Roeb, G. A1 - Schurr, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Design and initial performance of PlanTIS: a high-resolution positron emission tomograph for plants JF - Physics in Medicine and Biology N2 - Positron emitters such as 11C, 13N and 18F and their labelled compounds are widely used in clinical diagnosis and animal studies, but can also be used to study metabolic and physiological functions in plants dynamically and in vivo. A very particular tracer molecule is 11CO2 since it can be applied to a leaf as a gas. We have developed a Plant Tomographic Imaging System (PlanTIS), a high-resolution PET scanner for plant studies. Detectors, front-end electronics and data acquisition architecture of the scanner are based on the ClearPET™ system. The detectors consist of LSO and LuYAP crystals in phoswich configuration which are coupled to position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes. Signals are continuously sampled by free running ADCs, and data are stored in a list mode format. The detectors are arranged in a horizontal plane to allow the plants to be measured in the natural upright position. Two groups of four detector modules stand face-to-face and rotate around the field-of-view. This special system geometry requires dedicated image reconstruction and normalization procedures. We present the initial performance of the detector system and first phantom and plant measurements. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-9155/55/3/006 SN - 1361-6560 VL - 55 IS - 3 SP - 635 EP - 646 PB - IOP CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Herzog, Hans A1 - Pietrzyk, Uwe A1 - Shah, N. Jon A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - The current state, challenges and perspectives of MR-PET JF - Neuroimage N2 - Following the success of PET/CT during the last decade and the recent increasing proliferation of SPECT/CT, another hybrid imaging instrument has been gaining more and more interest: MR-PET. First combined, simultaneous PET and MR studies carried out in small animals demonstrated the feasibility of the new approach. Concurrently, some prototypes of an MR-PET scanner for simultaneous human brain studies have been built, their performance is being tested and preliminary applications have already been shown. Through this pioneering work, it has become clear that advances in the detector design are necessary for further optimization. Recently, the different issues related to the present state and future prospects of MR-PET were presented and discussed during an international 2-day workshop at the Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, held after, and in conjunction with, the 2008 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference in Dresden, Germany on October 27–28, 2008. The topics ranged from small animal MR-PET imaging to human MR-BrainPET imaging, new detector developments, challenges/opportunities for ultra-high field MR-PET imaging and considerations of possible future research and clinical applications. This report presents a critical summary of the contributions made to the workshop. Y1 - 2010 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.10.036 SN - 1053-8119 VL - 49 IS - 3 SP - 2072 EP - 2082 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Double-side-readout technique for SiPM-matrices JF - 2010 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - In our case the double-side-method is used to minimize the complexity of a matrix-readout. Here the number of channels is reduced to 2√N̅. It is also possible to benefit from the method in a single pixel readout system. One signal can be used to measure position and energy of the event, the other one can be applied to a fast trigger-circuit at the same time. In a next step we will investigate timing behavior and electrical crosstalk of the circuit. Y1 - 2011 SN - 1095-7863 SP - 1486 EP - 1487 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Al-Kaddoum, R. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Waasen, S. van T1 - Simulation studies of optical photons in monolithic block scintillators T2 - 2011 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record (NSS/MIC) N2 - The interest in PET detectors with monolithic block scintillators is growing. In order to obtain high spatial resolutions dedicated positioning algorithms are required. But even an ideal algorithm can only deliver information which is provided by the detector. In this simulation study we investigated the light distribution on one surface of cuboid LSO scintillators of different size. Scintillators with a large aspect ratio (small footprint and large height) showed significant position information only for a minimum interaction depth of the gamma particle. The results allow a quantitative estimate for a useful aspect ratio. Y1 - 2012 SN - 978-1-4673-0120-6 (electronic ISBN) SN - 978-1-4673-0118-3 (print ISBN) U6 - https://doi.org/10.1109/NSSMIC.2011.6154621 SP - 1380 EP - 1382 PB - IEEE CY - New York ER - TY - GEN A1 - Rongen, Heinz A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Schiek, Michael A1 - Tass, Alexander T1 - Vorrichtung zur Messung biomedizinischer Daten eines Probanden und Verfahren zur Simulation des Probanden mit in Echtzeit verarbeiteten Daten T1 - Device for measuring biomedical data from a testee and method for stimulating the testee with data processed in real-time N2 - Die Erfindung betrifft eine Vorrichtung zur Messung biomedizinischer Daten eines Probanden, mit einem Messsystem zur Erhebung der Daten sowie einer ersten Hardware-Komponente zur Aufzeichnung der Daten. In einer Verbindungsleitung zur Übertragung der Daten vom Messsystem zur ersten Hardware-Komponente zur Aufzeichnung der Daten ist erfindungsgemäss ein Mittel zur galvanischen Auftrennung der Daten angeordnet. Auf diese Weise ist wenigstens die Duplizierung der Daten für Datenverarbeitungszwecke gewährleistet. Die auf diese Weise verarbeiteten Daten werden für ein Verfahren zur Echtzeit-Stimulation eines Probanden genutzt. Y1 - 2006 N1 - Auch veröffentlicht als EP2007276 ; US2009069662 ; US8301222 ; JP2009535071 ; WO2007118443 ; AT 533401 SP - 1 EP - 12 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Chatziioannou, A. F. A1 - Weber, S. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. A1 - Pietrzyk, U. T1 - Investigation of different MicroCT scanner configurations by GEANT4 simulations JF - IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science N2 - This study has been performed to design the combination of the new ClearPET (ClearPET is a trademark of the Crystal Clear Collaboration), a small animal positron emission tomography (PET) system, with a micro-computed tomography (microCT) scanner. The properties of different microCT systems have been determined by simulations based on GEANT4. We will demonstrate the influence of the detector material and the X-ray spectrum on the obtained contrast. Four different detector materials (selenium, cadmium zinc telluride, cesium iodide and gadolinium oxysulfide) and two X-ray spectra (a molybdenum and a tungsten source) have been considered. The spectra have also been modified by aluminum filters of varying thickness. The contrast between different tissue types (water, air, brain, bone and fat) has been simulated by using a suitable phantom. The results indicate the possibility to improve the image contrast in microCT by an optimized combination of the X-ray source and detector material. Y1 - 2005 SN - 0018-9499 VL - 52 IS - 1 SP - 188 EP - 192 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - The data acquisition system of ClearPET neuro - a small animal PET scanner JF - IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science N2 - The Crystal Clear Collaboration has developed a modular system for a small animal PET scanner (ClearPET). The modularity allows the assembly of scanners of different sizes and characteristics in order to satisfy the specific needs of the individual member institutions. The system performs depth of interaction detection by using a phoswich arrangement combining LSO and LuYAP scintillators which are coupled to Multichannel Photomultipliers (PMTs). For each PMT a free running 40 MHz ADC digitizes the signal and the complete scintillation pulse is sampled by an FPGA and sent with 20 MB/s to a PC for preprocessing. The pulse provides information about the gamma energy and the scintillator material which identifies the interaction layer. Furthermore, the exact pulse starting time is obtained from the sampled data. This is important as no hardware coincidence detection is implemented. All single events are recorded and coincidences are identified by software. The system in Jülich (ClearPET Neuro) is equipped with 10240 crystals on 80 PMTs. The paper will present an overview of the data acquisition system. Y1 - 2006 SN - 0018-9499 VL - 53 IS - 3 SP - 700 EP - 703 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Weber, S. A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - High resolution imaging with ClearPET™ Neuro - first animal images JF - 2005 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - The ClearPET™ Neuro is the first full ring scanner within the Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC). It consists of 80 detector modules allocated to 20 cassettes. LSO and LuYAP:Ce crystals in phoswich configuration in combination with position sensitive photomultiplier tubes are used to achieve high sensitivity and realize the acquisition of the depth of interaction (DOI) information. The complete system has been tested concerning the mechanical and electronical stability and interplay. Moreover, suitable corrections have been implemented into the reconstruction procedure to ensure high image quality. We present first results which show the successful operation of the ClearPET™ Neuro for artefact free and high resolution small animal imaging. Based on these results during the past few months the ClearPET™ Neuro System has been modified in order to optimize the performance. Y1 - 2006 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 1641 EP - 1644 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Parl, C. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Timemark correction for the ClearPET™ scanners JF - 2005 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 4 N2 - The small animal PET scanners developed by the Crystal Clear Collaboration (ClearPETtrade) detect coincidences by analyzing timemarks which are attached to each event. The scanners are able to save complete single list mode data which allows analysis and modification of the timemarks after data acquisition. The timemarks are obtained from the digitally sampled detector pulses by calculating the baseline crossing of the rising edge of the pulse which is approximated as a straight line. But the limited sampling frequency causes a systematic error in the determination of the timemark. This error depends on the phase of the sampling clock at the time of the event. A statistical method that corrects these errors will be presented Y1 - 2006 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 2057 EP - 2060 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Herzog, H. A1 - Feinendegen, L. E. T1 - Iterative image reconstruction with weighted pixel contribution to projection element JF - European Journal of Nuclear Medicine Y1 - 1990 SN - 1619-7089 N1 - Abstracts of the European Association of Nuclear Medicine Congress ; V52 VL - 16 IS - 7 SP - 403 EP - 403 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Comparison of forward hadrons produced in muon interactions on nuclear targets and deuterium JF - Zeitschrift für Physik C Particles and Fields N2 - Differential multiplicities of forward produced hadrons in deep inelastic muon scattering on nuclear targets have been compared with those from deuterium. The ratios are observed to increase towards unity as the virtual photon energy increases with no significant dependence on the other muon kinematic variables. The hadron transverse momentum distribution is observed to be broadened in nuclear targets. The dependence on the remaining hadron variables is investigated and the results are discussed in the framework of intranuclear interaction models and in the context of the EMC effect. Y1 - 1991 SN - 1431-5858 N1 - European Muon Collaboration VL - 52 IS - 1 SP - 1 EP - 11 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Muoproduction of J/ψ and the gluon distribution of the nucleon JF - Zeitschrift für Physik C Particles and Fields N2 - Measurements are presented of the inclusive distributions of the J/Ψ meson produced by muons of energy 200 GeV from an ammonia target. The gluon distribution of the nucleon has been derived from the data in the range 0.04