Efficiency determination of J-PET: first plastic scintillators-based PET scanner

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Nuclear Physics
• Detector Technology

Background:

• The Jagiellonian Positron Emission Tomograph (JPET) is a novel 3-layer prototype utilizing plastic scintillators, offering a potentially more economical alternative to traditional crystal-based detectors.
• JPET represents a pioneering effort in multi-photon positron emission tomography (PET) development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the registration efficiency of the JPET tomograph as a function of energy deposition by incident photons.
• To ascertain the intrinsic efficiency of the JPET scanner in detecting photons across various incident energies.

Main Methods:

• Investigated 3-hit events from [Formula: see text] annihilations, utilizing primary and scattered 511 keV photons to calculate scattering angles and energy deposition.
• Compared experimental and simulated energy distribution spectra to determine scanner efficiencies.

Main Results:

• The registration efficiency of the J-PET scanner was determined to range between 20% and 100% for energy depositions between 70-270 keV.
• The intrinsic efficiency of the J-PET was quantified as a function of incident photon energy.

Conclusions:

• A robust method for assessing registration and intrinsic efficiencies of the J-PET scanner was successfully demonstrated.
• This work is vital for evaluating plastic scintillator-based PET performance and has potential applications in Compton-camera calibration for ion-beam therapy and multi-radionuclide imaging.