Resistive Plate Chambers for brain PET imaging and particle tracking and timing (TOF-tracker)

TL;DR

This paper presents a novel Resistive Plate Chamber system capable of high-resolution timing and tracking of charged particles, as well as precise gamma-ray detection for PET imaging, demonstrating significant improvements in spatial and temporal resolution.

Contribution

It introduces a new readout architecture for Resistive Plate Chambers enabling simultaneous high-resolution timing and bidimensional tracking, with applications in PET imaging and particle tracking.

Findings

Time resolution of 61 ps sigma achieved

Bidimensional position resolution below 150 μm sigma

Localization precision of 0.49 mm FWHM for small β+ source

Abstract

In this work we explore readout architectures for the simultaneous high-resolution timing and bidimensional tracking of charged particles with Resistive Plate Chambers (TOF-tracker) and for the accurate detection of gamma rays for PET imaging. On 625 $cm^2$ of active area we obtained a time resolution of 61 ps $\sigma$ and bidimensional position resolution below 150 $\mu$m $\sigma$ for the tracking and timing of charged particles from cosmic rays. An intrinsic precision of 0.49 mm FWHM was determined for the localization of a small $\beta^+$ source via the detection of its annihilation radiation.