A Liquid Xenon Detector for Positron Emission Tomography

Here, we report on the present state of development of a liquid xenon detector composed by multiwire ionisation chambers, which has been developed for positron emission tomography (PET). It uses the fast scintillation signal for coincidence and subsequent trigger of the event processing. The charge signals induced on the wires are used for position determination along the radial and transaxial directions of the tomograph, as well as for energy information. The following detector characteristics have been achieved: i) coincidence time resolution better than 1.5 ns (fwhm); ii) position precision along the radial direction equal to 5 mm; iii) position resolution in the transaxial direction of 0.8 mm (fwhm); iv) energy resolution of 17% (fwhm) for 511 keV y-rays; v) efficiency of trigger of about 100%; vi) overall efficiency of detection of 60%. The prospects for the development of this detector in view of its application in PET are discussed.