Discovery of Dense Ce Activated Scintillators for SPECT and PET by High Throughput Screening Method

76302-The primary detector in SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography) instruments, used for medical imaging, requires scintillators with improved detection efficiency, high stopping power, energy resolution, low cost, and fast speed of response. Unfortunately, no existing scintillator has all of these desirable properties. This project will develop and apply a high throughout screening process to rapidly discover advanced Ce-activated scintillators for medical detectors. Among the numerous possibilities for the Ce host, this process will identify the best Ce3+-activated scintillator that meets the desirable properties. Phase I will prepare very high-density combinatorial libraries of heavy elements hosts, activated with Cerium. Specialized high throughput screening tools will be used to measure the fluorescence intensity across the surface of the library. Regions of high luminosity will be explored to determine optimum concentrations, emission wavelength spectra, and decay times. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The high throughput screening process should significantly accelerate the development of scintillators for advanced medical diagnostics systems such as in SPECT and PET. In addition, the advanced scintillators should have broad application in other medical imaging systems such as digital radiography, mammography; real time fluoroscopic imaging such as X-ray cardiac, angiography, etc.