New prospects for time-of-flight PET with LSO scintillators

The growing interest in time-of-flight PET triggered the study of the time resolution obtainable with a 4/spl times/4/spl times/20 mm/sup 3/ LSO crystal coupled directly to the center of a 52 mm in diameter Photonis XP20D0 photomultiplier as well as the time resolution obtainable with the use of an 11 mm thick lucite light diffuser that simulates the conditions in typical PET block detectors. The LSO crystal directly coupled to the PMT yielded a time resolution of 166/spl plusmn/5 ps, while in the case of light readout with the use of the light diffuser it degraded to 196/spl plusmn/5 ps and 277/spl plusmn/6 ps in the center and at the edge of the PMT, respectively. The light diffuser was coated on the sides with black tape to absorb light and to approximate in this way the realistic performance of a future block detector. Similar time resolution was obtained by coupling the LSO crystal either to the Photonis XP20D0 PMT or to a very fast 25 mm diameter Hamamatsu R5320 PMT. These results illustrate the advantages of the very low time jitter of the Hamamatsu PMT on one side, and high quantum efficiency and a screening grid at the anode of the Photonis PMT, on the other. This study strongly suggests that time-of-flight PET based on LSO crystals is a realistic proposition for the further development.