Study of TOF-PET capability with Lutetium Fine Silicate and Multi-Pixel Photon Counter

The timing resolution of a detector pair that consists of a Multi-Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) and a Lutetium Fine Silicate (LFS) inorganic scintillator for next generation positron emission tomography (PET) systems is investigated to improve the timing resolution for Time of Flight (TOF) - PET reduce noise signals and generate a cleaner image. The timing resolution was 96 ps in full width at half maximum (FWHM) with LFS which corresponds approximately to 3 cm extracted from the photon detection time difference of two detectors. In contrast, lutetium yttrium orthosilicate (LYSO) resulted in a timing resolution of 111 ps in FWHM.