TY - JOUR A1 - Bussmann, N. A1 - Engels, R. A1 - Fuss, L. A1 - Kemmerling, G. A1 - Reinartz, R. A1 - Langen, K.-J. A1 - Schelten, J. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Performance measurement of a new high resolution detector system for I-131 thyroid studies JF - 2000 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - A 2-dimensional detector system for high resolution thyroid I-131 scintigraphy was developed. It has a sensitive area of 4 cm×4 cm and consists of a lead-collimator and an array of 10×10 EGO crystals combined with a position sensitive photomultiplier. The spatial resolution and the sensitivity of the detector has been measured and compared to two commercially available gamma-cameras. Furthermore first patient measurements have been carried out Y1 - 2000 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 22/35 EP - 22/37 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Pulse recording by free-running sampling JF - 2000 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 2 N2 - Pulses from a position-sensitive photomultiplier (PS-PMT) are recorded by free running ADCs at a sampling rate of 40 MHz. A four-channel acquisition-board has been developed which is equipped with four 12 bit-ADCs connected to one FPGA (field programmable gate array). The FPGA manages data acquisition and the transfer to the host computer. It can also work as a digital trigger, so a separate hardware-trigger can be omitted. The method of free running sampling provides a maximum of information, besides the pulse charge and amplitude also pulse shape and starting time are contained in the sampled data. These informations are crucial for many tasks such as distinguishing between different scintillator materials, determination of radiation type, pile-up recovery, coincidence detection or time-of-flight applications. The absence of an analog integrator allows coping with very high count rates. Since this method is going to be employed in positron emission tomography (PET), the position of an event is another important information. The simultaneous readout of four channels allows localization by means of center-of-gravity weighting. First results from a test setup with LSO-scintillators coupled to the PS-PMT are presented Y1 - 2000 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 9/179 EP - 9/181 ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Peters, H. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Dammers, J. A1 - Müller-Veggian, Mattea ED - Nenonen, Jukka T1 - Continuous head motion detection during MEG measurement using head location coils T2 - Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Biomagnetism : August 13 - 17, 2000, Helsinki University of Technology, Espoo, Finland Y1 - 2001 SN - 951-22-5401-8 N1 - Biomag <12, 2000, Espoo> ; Teknillinen Korkeakoulu ; International Conference on Biomagnetism <12, 2000, Espoo> PB - Helsinki Univ. of Technology, Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering CY - Espoo ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Pulse recording by free-running sampling JF - IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science N2 - Pulses from a position-sensitive photomultiplier (PS-PMT) are recorded by free-running ADCs at a sampling rate of 40 MHz. A four-channel acquisition board has been developed which is equipped with four 12-bit ADCs connected to one field programmable gate array (FPGA). The FPGA manages data acquisition and the transfer to the host computer. It can also work as a digital trigger, so a separate hardware trigger can be omitted. The method of free-running sampling provides a maximum of information, besides the pulse charge and amplitude also pulse shape and starting time are contained in the sampled data. This information is crucial for many tasks such as distinguishing between different scintillator materials, determination of radiation type, pile-up recovery, coincidence detection or time-of-flight applications. The absence of an analog integrator allows very high count rates to be dealt with. Since this method is to be employed in positron emission tomography (PET), the position of an event is also important. The simultaneous readout of four channels allows localization by means of center-of-gravity weighting. First results from a test setup with LSO scintillators coupled to the PS-PMT are presented here Y1 - 2001 SN - 0018-9499 VL - 48 IS - 3 SP - 524 EP - 526 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Heinrich, U. A1 - Blum, A. A1 - Bussmann, N. A1 - Engels, R. A1 - Kemmerling, G. A1 - Weber, S. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - Statistical studies on the light output and energy resolution of small LSO single crystals with different surface treatments combined with various reflector materials JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment N2 - The optimization of light output and energy resolution of scintillators is of special interest for the development of high resolution and high sensitivity PET. The aim of this work is to obtain statistically reliable results concerning optimal surface treatment of scintillation crystals and the selection of reflector material. For this purpose, raw, mechanically polished and etched LSO crystals (size 2×2×10 mm3) were combined with various reflector materials (Teflon tape, Teflon matrix, BaSO4) and exposed to a 22Na source. In order to ensure the statistical reliability of the results, groups of 10 LSO crystals each were measured for all combinations of surface treatment and reflector material. Using no reflector material the light output increased up to 551±35% by mechanical polishing the surface compared to 100±5% for raw crystals. Etching the surface increased the light output to 441±29%. The untreated crystals had an energy resolution of 24.6±4.0%. By mechanical polishing the surface it was possible to achieve an energy resolution of 13.2±0.8%, by etching of 14.8±0.7%. In combination with BaSO4 as reflector material the maximum increase of light output has been established to 932±57% for mechanically polished and 895±61% for etched crystals. The combination with BaSO4 also caused the best improvement of the energy resolution up to 11.6±0.2% for mechanically polished and 12.2±0.3% for etched crystals. Relating to the light output there was no significant statistical difference between the two surface treatments in combination with BaSO4. In contrast to this, the statistical results of the energy resolution have shown the combination of mechanical polishing and BaSO4 as the optimum. Y1 - 2002 SN - 0168-9002 N1 - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Inorganic Scin tillators and their Use in Scientific and Industrial Applications VL - 486 IS - 1-2 SP - 60 EP - 66 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - A PET system with free running ADCs JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment N2 - A small PET system has been built up with two multichannel photomultipliers, which are attached to a matrix of 64 single LSO crystals each. The signal from each multiplier is being sampled continuously by a 12 bit ADC at a sampling frequency of 40 MHz. In case of a scintillation pulse a subsequent FPGA sends the corresponding set of samples together with the channel information and a time mark to the host computer. The data transfer is performed with a rate of 20 MB/s. On the host all necessary information is extracted from the data. The pulse energy is determined, coincident events are detected and multiple hits within one matrix can be identified. In order to achieve a narrow time window the pulse starting time is refined further than the resolution of the time mark (=25 ns) would allow. This is possible by interpolating between the pulse samples. First data obtained from this system will be presented. The system is part of developments for a much larger system and has been created to study the feasibility and performance of the technique and the hardware architecture. Y1 - 2002 SN - 0168-9002 N1 - Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Inorganic Scin tillators and their Use in Scientific and Industrial Applications VL - 486 IS - 1-2 SP - 18 EP - 21 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Coincidence detection by digital processing of free-running sampled pulses JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment N2 - Coincident events in two scintillator crystals coupled to photomultipliers (PMT) are detected by processing just the digital data of the recorded pulses. For this purpose the signals from both PMTs are continuously sampled by free-running ADCs at a sampling rate of 40 MHz. For each sampled pulse the starting time is determined by processing the pulse data. Even a fairly simple interpolating algorithm results in a FWHM of about 2 ns. Y1 - 2002 SN - 0168-9002 VL - 487 IS - 3 SP - 530 EP - 534 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Khodaverdi, M. A1 - Pauly, F. A1 - Schroder, G. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Sievering, R. A1 - Halling, H. T1 - Preliminary studies of a micro-CT for a combined small animal PET/CT scanner JF - 2001 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - We are developing an X-ray computed tomography (CT) system which will be combined with a high resolution animal PET system. This permits acquisition of both molecular and anatomical images in a single machine. In particular the CT will also be utilized for the quantification of the animal PET data by providing accurate data for attenuation correction. A first prototype has been built using a commercially available plane silicon diode detector. A cone-beam reconstruction provides the images using the Feldkamp algorithm. First measurements with this system have been performed on a mouse. It could be shown that the CT setup fulfils all demands for a high quality image of the skeleton of the mouse. It is also suited for soft tissue measurements. To improve contrast and resolution and to acquire the X-ray energy further development of the system, especially the use of semiconductor detectors and iterative reconstruction algorithms are planned. Y1 - 2002 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 1605 EP - 1606 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Streun, M. A1 - Brandenburg, G. A1 - Larue, H. A1 - Zimmermann, E. A1 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Halling, H. T1 - A PET system based on data processing of free-running sampled pulses JF - 2001 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 2 N2 - Within the developments for the Crystal Clear small animal PET project (CLEARPET) a dual head PET system has been established. The basic principle is the early digitization of the detector pulses by free running ADCs. The determination of the γ-energy and also the coincidence detection is performed by data processing of the sampled pulses on the host computer. Therefore a time mark is attached to each pulse identifying the current cycle of the 40 MHz sampling clock. In order to refine the time resolution the pulse starting time is interpolated from the samples of the pulse rise. The detector heads consist of multichannel PMTs with a single LSO scintillator crystal coupled to each channel. For each PMT only one ADC is required. The position of an event is obtained separately from trigger signals generated for each single channel. An FPGA is utilized for pulse buffering, generation of the time mark and for the data transfer to the host via a fast I/O-interface. Y1 - 2002 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 693 EP - 694 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 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Achten, R. A1 - Auffray, E. A1 - Müller-Veggian, Mattea T1 - The ClearPET™ neuro scanner: a dedicated LSO/LuYAP phoswich small animal PET scanner JF - 2004 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium conference record : Nuclear Science Symposium, Medical Imaging Conference ; 16 - 22 October 2004, Rome, Italy ; [including the Symposium on Nuclear Power System (SNPS), 14th Room Temperature Semiconductor X- and Gamma-Ray Detectors Workshop and special focus workshops] / NPSS, Nuclear & Plasma Sciences Society. Guest ed.: J. Anthony Seibert Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 N1 - Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, 2004 IEEE SP - 2430 EP - 2433 PB - IEEE Operations Center CY - Piscataway, NJ 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 - Ziemons, Karl A1 - Auffray, E. A1 - Barbier, R. A1 - Brandenburg, G. T1 - The ClearPET TM LSO/LuYAP phoswich scanner: a high performance small animal PET system JF - 2003 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium Conference Record, Vol. 3 N2 - A 2nd generation high performance small animal PET scanner, called ClearPET™, has been designed and a first prototype is built by working groups of the Crystal Clear Collaboration (CCC). In order to achieve high sensitivity and maintain good uniform spatial resolution over the field of view in high resolution PET systems, it is necessary to extract the depth of interaction (DOI) information and correct for spatial degradation. The design of the first ClearPET™ Demonstrator based on the use of the multi-anode photomultiplier tube (Hamamatsu R7600-M64) and a LSO/LuYAP phoswich matrix. The two crystal layers of 8*8 crystals (2*2*10 mm3) are stacked on each other and mounted without light guide as one to one on the PMT. A unit of four PMTs arranged in-line represents one of 20 sectors of the ring design. The opening diameter of the crystal ring is 137 mm, the axial detector length is 110 mm. The PMT pulses are digitized by free-running ADCs and digital data processing determines the gamma energy, the phoswich layer and even the pulse arrival time. Single gamma interactions are recorded and coincidences are found by software. The gantry allows rotation of the detector modules around the field of view. The measurements have been done using the first LSO/LuYAP detector cassettes. Y1 - 2004 SN - 1082-3654 SP - 1728 EP - 1732 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 - Auffray, E. A1 - Bruyndonckx, P. A1 - Devroede, O. A1 - Fedorov, A. A1 - Ziemons, Karl T1 - The ClearPET project JF - Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research, Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment N2 - The Crystal Clear Collaboration has designed and is building a high-resolution small animal PET scanner. The design is based on the use of the Hamamatsu R7600-M64 multi-anode photomultiplier tube and a LSO/LuYAP phoswich matrix with one to one coupling between the crystals and the photo-detector. The complete system will have 80 PM tubes in four rings with an inner diameter of 137 mm and an axial field of view of 110 mm. The PM pulses are digitized by free-running ADCs and digital data processing determines the gamma energy, the phoswich layer and even the pulse arrival time. Single gamma interactions are recorded and coincidences are found by software. The gantry allows rotation of the detector modules around the field of view. Simulations, and measurements a 2×4 module test set-up predict a spatial resolution of 1.5 mm in the centre of the field of view and a sensitivity of 5.9% for a point source in the centre of the field of view. Y1 - 2004 SN - 0168-9002 N1 - Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Imaging Technologies in Biomedical Sciences VL - 527 IS - 1-2 SP - 171 EP - 174 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 -