High Efficiency, Low Cost Scintillators for PET

78029S Scintillation detectors, consisting of inorganic scintillation crystals coupled to photomultiplier tubes, are an important element of medical imaging applications such as positron emission tomography (PET). Performance as well as cost of these systems is limited by the properties of the scintilation detectors available at present. This project will investigate a new class of scintillation materials that can be fabricated by using a low cost fabrication approach. Phase I will demonstrate the feasibility of producing high performance scintillators using a low cost fabrication approach. Scintillator samples will be produced and performance will be evaluated. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: Over and above use in medical imaging, the new scintillators should be commercially applicable to non-destructive evaluation (NDE), bore hole logging, industrial CT imaging, X-ray instrumentation, and materials analysis. They also should be useful in particle and space physics experiments.