Zhiming Zhang

Positron beam studies of argon-irradiated polycrystal α-Zr

Doppler broadening spectroscopy was performed using a variable-energy positron beam to investigate the effect of defects induced by 150-keV Ar-ion-irradiated α-Zr bulk material. S parameter in the damaged layer of the as-irradiated sample induced by ion irradiation increased with the increasing implantation dose. Isochronal annealing between 350 and 800°C in vacuum studies was carried out to investigate the thermal stability of defects in the oxide surface and damaged layer for low-dose (1×1014cm2) and high-dose (1×1016cm2) irradiated samples. The results of S-W plot measured at different annealing temperatures showed that the positron-trapping center had changed. The Ar-decorated voids or vacancies, which formed in high-dose implantation samples by Ar ions combining with open-volume defects, are stable and do not recover until at high annealing temperatures. Comparing the annealing behavior of the high-dose and low-dose implantation samples show that the recovery process of open-volume defects such as va...

Development of a PET Insert for simultaneously small animal PET/MRI.

PET/MR is a new multi-modality imaging system which provide both structural and functional information with good soft tissue imaging ability and no ionizing radiation. In recent years, PET/MR is under major progress because of the development of silicon photomultipliers (SiPM). The goal of this study is to develop a MRI compatible PET insert based on SiPM and LYSO scintillator. The PET system was constituted by the detector ring, electronics and software. The detector ring consists of 16 detector module. The inner diameter of the ring was 151 mm, the external diameter was 216 mm, which was big enough for small animal research, e.g. rat, rabbit and tupaia. The sensor of each module was 2*2 SensL SPMArraySL, coupled with an array of 14 x 14 LYSO crystals, each crystal measuring 2 mm x 2 mm 10 mm. The detector was encapsulated in a copper box for light and magnetic shielding. Resister charge multiplexing circuit was used in the front end electronics. Each detector output 8X and 8Y position signals. One summed timing signal was extracted from the common cathode of all 64 channels. All these signals were transmitted to digital electronic board by a 3 m long coaxial cable from inside of the MR to the outside. Each digital electronic board handled 8 detector modules based on FPGA to obtain the timing, position and energy information of a single event. And then these single events were sent to the coincidence processing board to produce coincidence packets which are prepared for further processing. A 0.2mCi 68Ge line source was used to do the preliminary imaging test. The image was reconstructed by 3D-OSEM algorithm. The initial result proved the system to be feasible as a PET. FDG phantom imaging and simultaneous PET/MR imaging are in progress.

Integrating remote sensing with GIS-based multi-criteria evaluation approach for Karst rocky desertification assessment in Southwest of China

The increasing exploitation of Karst resources is leading to severe environmental impacts, as Karst frequently occurs in the most fragile and vulnerable environments. This paper presents a multi-criteria evaluation (MCE) approach in a spatial context to support Karst rocky desertification (KRD) assessment by integrating remote sensing data with GIS. The study area is located in Wenshan Prefecture, Yunnan Province, Southwest of China. Criteria and impact factors for KRD first were identified and weighted through pairwise comparison method. A GIS fuzzy set membership function was then used to generate gradient effects of each criterion, and a clustering method based on K-mean algorithms was used to classify KRD into several descending rank zones (or levels). Both ROC and error matrix assessments indicated that the MCE approach is better than the NDVI approach. In addition, we found it is useful to integrate the topographic and human disturbance factors into KRD mapping and assessment, compared with most of the previous KRD assessment studies mainly focused on developing vegetation or land cover information in karst regions by using remote sensing alone. Furthermore, the integrated MCE approach is robust, flexible, and easy to be implemented. It also explicitly includes the quantitative and qualitative information, for instance, opinions of decision makers and experts as well as characteristics of the landscape.

Depth discrimination method based on a multirow linear array detector for push-broom Compton scatter imaging

A depth discrimination method is devised based on a multirow linear array detector for push-broom Compton scatter imaging. Two or more rows of detector modules are placed at different positions towards a sample. An improved parallel-hole collimator is fixed in front of the modules to restrict their fields of view. The depth information could be indicated by comparing the signal differences. In addition, an available detector and several related simulations using GEANT4 are given to support the method well.

Development of a portable gamma imager based on SiPM and coded aperture technology

This paper describes the instrumentation of an integrated remote radiation imager used in environmental measurement. The system consists of gamma ray detector, coded aperture mask, video camera, FPGA based digital electronics, embedded control system and screen. The detector is based on a 5×5 SiPM array coupled with 11×11 YSO scintillator array with the pitch size of 1.8mm. The modified uniformly redundant array coded aperture mask was used to enable the system with greater sensitivity. The device can take images of the radiation distribution of the vision field, which is fused with optical image and then displayed on LED screen. Preliminary experiment results showed that the imaging system was full functional. The imager weighs only 2.8kg and is powered by lithium battery, being the most portable one among similar-type instruments reported up to now.

Performance Evaluation and Initial Clinical Test of the Positron Emission Mammography System (PEMi)

A new polygon positron emission mammography imaging system (PEMi) was developed in 2009 by the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. PEMi is constructed in a polygon structure with lutetium yttrium orthosilicate crystal arrays mounted on a position-sensitive photomultiplier. The system consists of 64 blocks and each block is arranged in 16 ×16 crystal arrays with a pixel size of 1.9 ×1.9 ×15 mm. The diameter of the detector ring is 166 mm, and the axial length is 128 mm. The transaxial field of view of PEMi is 110 mm. The goal of the initial study was to test PEMis performance and the clinical imaging ability with a small group of selected subjects. The detectors have a measured intrinsic spatial resolution averaging 1.67 mm. The axial and tangential resolution remained under 2.5-mm full width at half maximum within the central 5-cm diameter of the field of view. The hot rods with a diameter of 1.7 mm can be clearly identified, and the structure of the region containing 1.35-mm diameter rods can also be observed. Using a 6-ns coincidence timing window and a 360 ~ 660-keV energy window, the peak sensitivity of the tomograph is 6.88%. The noise-equivalent count rate peak is 110 thinspace766 cps for a breast-like cylindrical phantom of 100 mm in diameter at an activity concentration of 0.03 MBq/cc. The recovery coefficients ranged from 0.21 to 0.85 for rods between 1 mm and 5 mm in the image-quality phantom. The reconstructed image resolution achieved an improvement compared with whole-body positron emission tomography (PET), which might reduce the lower threshold on detectable lesion size. Example patient images demonstrate that PEMi is clinically feasible. And more detailed structure information was obtained with PEMi than with the whole-body PET imaging.

A digital CDS technique and its performance testing

Readout noise is a critical parameter for characterizing the performance of charge-coupled devices (CCDs), which can be greatly reduced by the correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit. However, a conventional CDS circuit inevitably introduces new noise since it consists of several active analog components such as operational amplifiers. This paper proposes a digital CDS circuit technique, which transforms the pre-amplified CCD signal into a train of digital presentations by a high-speed data acquisition card directly without the noisy CDS circuit, then implements the digital CDS algorithm through a numerical method. A readout noise of 3.3 e(-) and an energy resolution of 121 eV@5.9 keV can be achieved via the digital CDS technique.

A TOF-PET Detector based on Quadrant-Sharing PMTs and Optimized Leading-edge Timing Method

A time-of-flight positron emission tomography (TOF-PET) detector was developed based on a 6×9 LYSO array and four single channel photomultipliers (Hamamatsu R9800). Leading-edge timing circuit with optimized parameter was used instead of the constant fraction discriminator. The results showed that all 54 elements in the flood histogram could be identified clearly. The average coincidence resolving time was 402 ps FWHM.

A scintillating plastic fiber array and multiplexer based 384-channel fast neutron spectrometer

A fast neutron detection system based on a scintillating plastic fiber array and multiplexer was designed to measure the spectrum of fast neutrons ranged 10 MeV-100 MeV. With the method of nuclear recoil, the energy of incident neutron was determined by measuring the recoil proton track and deposited energy in scintillating plastic fibers. The detection system was composed of a scintillating plastic fiber array, 6 position sensitive photomultiplier tubes, and a high-density readout electronics based on the multiplexer. The scintillating plastic fiber array was made as a staggered structure with two kinds of fibers in different sizes (0.5 mm-square fiber and 3 mm-square fiber). The structure provided a wider detection energy range and better detection efficiency than arrays made with uniform plastic fibers. A dedicated digital electronics system was well designed to control the whole readout system to provide 384-channel signal processing. The detector had a 48 mm × 48 mm effective detection area and a mechanical size of 34 cm × 34 cm × 27 cm. In the simulation of the detector model performance, the system gave an energy resolution of 23%-35% for neutrons ranged 10 MeV-100 MeV. Experimental results showed that the detector had a good energy linearity and energy resolutions were, respectively, 35.82% at 14.817 MeV, 36.84% at 21.264 MeV, 35.90% at 23.069 MeV, and 32.90% at 24.220 MeV. The optimized prototype model had potential in increasing fast neutron detection performance.

Fast and accurate generation method of PSF-based system matrix for PET reconstruction

This work investigates the positional single photon incidence response (P-SPIR) to provide an accurate point spread function (PSF)-contained system matrix and its incorporation within the image reconstruction framework. Based on the Geant4 Application for Emission Tomography (GATE) simulation, P-SPIR theory takes both incidence angle and incidence position of the gamma photon into account during crystal subdivision, instead of only taking the former into account, as in single photon incidence response (SPIR). The response distribution obtained in this fashion was validated using Monte Carlo simulations. In addition, two-block penetration and normalization of the response probability are introduced to improve the accuracy of the PSF. With the incorporation of the PSF, the homogenization model is then analyzed to calculate the spread distribution of each line-of-response (LOR). A primate PET scanner, Eplus-260, developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHEP), was employed to evaluate the proposed method. The reconstructed images indicate that the P-SPIR method can effectively mitigate the depth-of-interaction (DOI) effect, especially at the peripheral area of field-of-view (FOV). Furthermore, the method can be applied to PET scanners with any other structures and list-mode data format with high flexibility and efficiency.