Development And Experimental Study Of A Small Animal PET Imaging Platform

By developing a lab platform for nuclear imaging experiment, School of Nuclear Science and Technology has the equipment to train students’ practical and creative abilities. The imaging platform is made up of NIM modules, 32_channel PCI DAQ, optical tables with orbital and linear translation stages, Scintillation crystals and PMTs, 64_channel uTCA digital DAQ system. Researchers can setup PET modules and SPECT modules by themselves, take data at either analog or digital modes, and reconstruct PET and SPECT image.In this paper, we simulate the imaging system, define the parameters of the imaging system, and obtain the reconstructed image of Point Source and Multi-Points Sources, the theoretical and measured resolution of corresponding image is given as well. During the experimental process, we design and product the hardware of the imaging system, and then carry out the installation of the imaging platform. The PET probe of experimental platform contains LYSO Scintillation crystal and PMTs which are coupled with grease. By designing the electronics circuits, we start the measurement of gamma rays emitted from a radioactive source. Three kinds of LYSO Scintillation crystals are measured during the experiments. We choose NIM modules and 32_channel PCI DAQ as data-acquisition system, and process data using MATLAB program. We also discuss the flood images and Energy Spectrum under the condition of both different interpolation methods in a single sampling mode and crystals with Light-Guide.