Spatial resolution of multi-head Si/CdTe Compton camera for medical application

Abstract

The next generation of Compton Camera based on Si and CdTe semiconductor has been developed in Japan for cosmic gamma-ray observation in space. Angular resolution and hence sensitivity of Compton Cameras are improved by employing the imaging semiconductors with good energy and spatial resolution. Moreover, for the energy range from several tens keV to a few MeV, silicon is suitable for the scattering part of the Compton camera since Compton cross-section is relatively large in Si, compared with the photo absorption cross section. Also effects of Doppler broadening is small. On the other hand, CdTe is suitable for the absorbers because of its high photoabsorption efficiency for gamma rays in this energy region. The high angular resolution and high energy resolution of the Si/CdTe Compton camera is very attractive features for medical applications. In the previous simulation study, we reported that the Compton camera has a low spatial resolution along the longitudinal direction, but it can be inproved by using two camera heads. In the present work, we measured the spatial resolution of the Compton camera, especially for the longitudinal direction. The spatial resolutions are compared with the simulation study. The longitudinal resolution is measured to be about 27 mm and the lateral one is about 5 mm at the distance of 6 cm from the surface of the top detector. The simulation result and the experimental one agree well with each other. Moreover we demonstrate the capability of three-dimensional imaging by using multi-head system consisted of plural Compton cameras. The spatial resolutions are consistent with the simulation result. These results implies that clear 3D-image can be realized by using a multi-head system of Compton cameras.