Estimating relationship between the Time Over Threshold and energy loss by photons in plastic scintillators used in the J-PET scanner

Abstract

Time-Over-Threshold (TOT) technique is being used widely due to its implications in developing the multi-channel readouts mainly when fast signal processing is required. Using TOT technique as a measure of energy loss instead of charge integration methods significantly reduces the signals readout cost by combining the time and energy information. Therefore, this approach can potentially be used in J-PET tomograph which is build from plastic scintillators characterized by fast light signals. The drawback in adopting this technique is lying in the non-linear correlation between input energy loss and TOT of the signal. The main motivation behind this work is to develop the relationship between TOT and energy loss and validate it with the J-PET tomograph. Methods:The experiment was performed using the 22 Na beta emitter source placed in the center of the J-PET tomograph. One can obtain primary photons of two different energies: 511 keV photon from the annihilation of positron (direct annihilation or through the formation of para-Positronim atom or pick-off process of ortho-Positronium atoms), and 1275 keV prompt photon. This allows to study the correlation between TOT values and energy loss for energy range up to 1000 keV. As the photon interacts dominantly via Compton scattering inside the plastic scintillator, there is no direct information of primary photon's energy. However, using the J-PET geometry one can measure the scattering angle of the interacting photon. Since, 22 Na source emits photons of two different energies, it is required to know unambiguously the energy of incident photons and its corresponding scattering angle for the estimation of energy deposition. In this work, dedicated algorithms were developed to tag the photons of different energies and studying their scattering angles to calculate the energy deposition by the interacting photons.Results: A new method was elaborated to measure the energy loss by interacting photons with plastic scintillators used in J-PET tomograph. It is found that relationship between the energy loss and Time Over Threshold is non-linear and can be described by function TOT = A0 + A1 * ln(E dep + A2) + A3 * (ln(E dep + A2)) 2 .Conclusions: A relationship between Time Over Threshold and energy loss by interacting photons inside the plastic scintillators used in J-PET scanner is established for a energy deposited range 100-1000 keV.

J-PET Framework: Software platform for PET tomography data reconstruction and analysis

“…• parametrization of deposited energy in plastic scintillators by Time-over-Threshold measurements [38],…”