Ethernet-based flash ADC for a plant PET detector system

We have developed a flash analog to digital (ADC) based read out system to be used for a Positron Emission Tomography (PET) system. The custom designed 16 channel 12-bit Ethernet-based flash ADC (EFADC-16) unit operates at 250 MHz/s/channel utilizing a gigabit Ethernet interface to parse time-stamped event signals. Each unit allows the user to define a custom coincidence table for triggering. Each EFADC-16 unit can digitize four H8500 position sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMT) equipped with a Jefferson Lab designed 4 channel resistive readout (a total of 16 channels). We present initial performance results of the EFADC-16 with four PET detector modules in a plant biology application to acquire tomographic images of the translocation of 11C within an oak seedling.