First demonstration of a Compton gamma imager based on silicon photomultipliers

TL;DR

This paper reports the first use of silicon photomultipliers in a Compton gamma imager, demonstrating its imaging capabilities with radioactive sources at various angles for security and radiological applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Compton gamma imager design utilizing silicon photomultipliers for light collection, marking a significant advancement in portable gamma imaging technology.

Findings

Successful imaging of Cs-137 at 30 degrees off-axis

Demonstrated imaging with Sn-113 and Na-22 sources

First implementation of silicon photomultipliers in this context

Abstract

We are developing a rugged and person-transportable Compton gamma imager for use in security investigations of radioactive materials, and for radiological incident remediation. The imager is composed of layers of scintillator with light collection for the forward layers provided by silicon photomultipliers and for the rear layer by photomultiplier tubes. As a first step, we have developed a 1/5th-scale demonstration unit of the final imager. We present the imaging performance of this demonstration unit for Cs-137 at angles of up to 30 degrees off-axis. Results are also presented for Sn-113 and Na-22. This represents the first demonstration of the use of silicon photomultipliers as an embedded component for light collection in a Compton gamma imager.