Development of a mini-PET Detector based on Silicon Photomultiplier Arrays for Plant Imaging Applications

TL;DR

This paper reports on developing a compact mini-PET detector using silicon photomultiplier arrays for plant imaging, enabling MRI-compatible imaging with improved spatial resolution and uniform response without gain compensation.

Contribution

It introduces a mini-PET detector prototype based on SiPM arrays suitable for plant imaging and MRI environments, demonstrating promising uniformity without gain adjustments.

Findings

SiPM arrays show high uniformity without gain compensation

Prototype demonstrates potential for MRI-compatible plant imaging

Initial tests indicate feasibility of SiPM-based mini-PET system

Abstract

A mini-PET style detector system is being developed for a plant imaging application with a compact array of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) replacing position sensitive photomultipliers (PSPMT). In addition to compactness, the use of SiPMs will allow imaging setups involving high strength MRI-type magnetic fields. The latter will allow for better position resolution of the initial positron annihilations in the plant tissue. In the present work, prototype arrays are tested for the uniformity of their response as it is known that PSPMTs require significant gain compensation on the individual channels to achieve an improved uniformity in response. The initial tests indicate a high likelihood that the SiPM arrays can be used without any gain compensation.