Novel detector systems for the Positron Emission Tomography

In this contribution we describe a novel solution for the construction of Positron Emission Tomograph. We present the device allowing for determination of the impact position as well as time and depth of interaction of the annihilation gamma quanta. The device is comprised of scintillation chamber consisting of organic scintillators surrounding the body of the patient. We discuss two possible solutions: (i) the tomograph built out of scintillator strips, and (ii) the tomograph built out of the scintillator plates. The application of the fast scintillators will enable to take ad vantage of the difference between time of the registration of the annihilation quanta. The invented method will permit to use a thick layers of detector material with the possibility of measuring the depth of the gamma quantum interaction (DOI) and the determination of their time of flight (TOF), and will allow for increasing the size of the diagnostic chamber without a significant increase of costs. The method is a subject of two patent applications [1,2] which are based on the techniques used in the particle physics experiments [3,4].