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In this study, time resolved (TR) Monte Carlo (MC) simulation program code was run to generate photon fluencies with increasing time steps. TR MC simulation was performed for ten time series from 4 ps to 52 ps. Generated photon fluencies were transferred to the image analysis programming platform. Imaging device geometry was created for test purpose in image reconstruction programming platform environment. Forward model weight matrix functions were calculated during each time period for 38 sources, and 38 detectors according to the back-reflected imaging geometry. A homogenous phantom, which simulated tissue, was chosen. Depending on the homogeneous tissue optical properties, such as tissue absorption coefficient μa, and tissue scattering coefficient μs, photons emitted from the laser source positions; migrated differently inside the imaging tissue. Photons migrate inside the tissue by some multiplication factor of ps depending on the tissue type for each 100-micrometer vertical distance. Superficial photons come photodetector point fast, depend on the source-detector neighborhood distances and tissue optical properties, respectively. Time resolved diffuse optic tomography (TRDOT) imaging systems are an emerging biomedical optic imaging modality due to progressive electronic technologies are helping to build the systems faster and cheap. As such, emerging microelectronic technology is giving important access to design and implement compact laser sources and photodetector units. Vertical cavity surface emitting light (VCSEL) as laser source and single photon avalanche diode (SPAD) arrays as photodetector units are becoming in common use as important hardware tools for designers and researchers in this field. TR diffuse photon analysis should be done routinely for better understanding of TRDOT devices. Hence, MC simulation driven TR photon fluence analysis was done for such a purpose in this study.

The excited state population of single solid-state emitters is subjected to energy fluctuations around the equilibrium driven by the bath and relaxation through the emission of phonons or photons. Simultaneous measurement of the associated spectral dynamics requires a technique with a high spectral and temporal resolution with an additionally high temporal dynamic range. We propose a pulsed excitation-laser analog of Photon-Correlation Fourier Spectroscopy (PCFS), which extracts the lineshape and spectral diffusion dynamics along the emission lifetime trajectory of the emitter, effectively discriminating spectral dynamics from relaxation and bath fluctuations. This lifetime-resolved PCFS correlates photon-pairs at the output arm of a Michelson interferometer in both their time-delay between laser-excitation and photon-detection and the time-delay between two photons. We propose the utility of the technique for systems with changing relative contributions to the emission from multiple states, for example, quantum emitters exhibiting phonon-mediated exchange between different fine-structure states., Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures total, including SI

The variation of photon fluence distributions [photon/cm2.s] for different input angle laser sources was shown by researchers experimentally [1]. According to this philosophy, different input angle source and detector photon entrance from tissue surface into imaging media have different photon fluence distributions for a specific tissue type. In this study, different input angle simulations were used for pulsed laser photons which uses time resolved (TR) Monte Carlo (MC) photon-tissue interaction simulation program to prove the philosophy in TR run mode. TR run mode MC simulation program trmc.c [2] was modified and used to generate TR photon counts inside the homogenous simulation environment. It has homogeneous tissue optical properties, absorption μa = 0.1 cm-1, scattering μs = 100 cm-1, and anisotropy g = 0.90 coefficients. Multi-input angle philosophy was first demonstrated by the researchers [1]. It was defined and experimentally proven. Photon fluencies which are forward model weight matrix coefficients differences were successfully shown for TR laser as a general procedure. In this study, differences were drawn for seven different input angle sources with pulsed laser photons. The proof-of-concept philosophy was shown successfully. The purpose of the use of pulsed laser is to show the righteousness of the philosophy in TR run mode, since the TR diffuse optical tomography (TRDOT) device would be made as a biomedical optic imaging (BOI) device. Cylindrical radial coordinate system which was defined in trmc.c [2] in earlier was used, the code was modified, and photon fluencies were generated based on the different input angle laser photons. Cylindrical coordinate system has 1 cm and 36-element radial r, and depth z grids. 100.000 photons were sent from pencil beam tissue surface point. Photons would be thought as group of ultra-narrow band pulsed laser photons. The main purpose of showing photon fluencies for different laser source input angles were succeeded and image reconstruction procedure was also applied. Ten time series were used which are [4, 8, 12, 16, 22, 26, 30, 38, 46, 52] picoseconds (ps). Different input angle photon fluence distribution figures were drawn. These are 0º, 15º, 30º, 45º, 60º, 75º, 90º. Photon fluence differences were also drawn and observed for different input angle laser sources. Forward model problem different input angle laser source and detector transfer functions were also drawn. Finally inlusion was embedded inside the homogenous simulation environment and images were reconstructed for both scenarios and localization error (LE), and concentration error (CE) was calculated for both scenarions and compared with each other.

Dual-energy contrast-enhanced digital mammography (CEDM) has been used to decompose breast images and improve diagnostic accuracy for tumor detection. However, this technique causes an increase of radiation dose and an inaccuracy in material decomposition due to the limitations of conventional X-ray detectors. In this study, we simulated the dual-energy CEDM with an energy-resolved photon-counting detector (ERPCD) for reducing radiation dose and improving the quantitative accuracy of material decomposition images. The ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM was compared to the conventional dual-energy CEDM in terms of radiation dose and quantitative accuracy. The correlation between radiation dose and image quality was also evaluated for optimizing the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM technique. The results showed that the material decomposition errors of the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM were 0.56–0.67 times lower than those of the conventional dual-energy CEDM. The imaging performance of the proposed technique was optimized at the radiation dose of 1.09 mGy, which is a half of the MGD for a single view mammogram. It can be concluded that the ERPCD-based dual-energy CEDM with an optimal exposure level is able to improve the quality of material decomposition images as well as reduce radiation dose.

We have achieved a greater than 2.5× improvement in the acquisition time figure of merit of an EmiScope™ Time Resolved photon Emission (TRE)-based probe system, by optimization of the detector dark-count rate, photon detection efficiency, and timing jitter. The effects of detector after-pulsing were reduced by use of an optimized hold-off time.

This paper presents the development of an energy-resolved readout electronics for BGO and LYSO scintillator detectors for X-ray photon-counting imaging applications. The detector signal was modeled as an exponential decay waveform convoluted with the single photon response of SiPM detector. In order to achieve high counting rate, the detector signal was firstly processed by an active pole-zero compensation circuits. Then using the time-over-threshold (ToT) readout method, a time to digital converters (TDC) implemented in FPGA. Simulation and experimental results showed that the method can significantly shorten the pulse width. The spectrum measurement results showed that the signal from active Pole-Zero compensation circuit can almost retain the information of the original signal while the spectrum obtained by TOT method was badly distorted. The detailed analysis and test results will be presented in the paper.

In this work we demonstrate an approach of double arrival time monitors (ATM), which is employed to increase synchronization level between external femtosecond laser systems and 4th generation light sources. With comparison to the single arrival time monitor technique, which was routinely used for time resolved experiments at accelerator based light sources, here we demonstrate more than twice increase in the temporal resolution and elimination of temporal drifts. The proposed technique opens a way for sub femtosecond synchronization within large-scale facilities and laser systems.

A new energy-resolved photon-counting mammography (ERPCM) device with a cadmium telluride (CdTe) series detector (JOB Corporation, Japan) is currently being developed. The CdTe series detector can detect higher-energy photons with high sensitivity, enabling the use of high-energy X-rays for imaging. Our previous research, in which we compared ERPCM using high-energy X-rays (tube voltage 50 kV) with general mammography using low-energy X-rays (tube voltage about 30 kV), reported that ERPCM had a higher CNR (contrast-to-noise ratio) than general mammography. The purpose of this study was to examine the magnitude of the CNR using a simulation and ERPCM; especially we would like to examine the CNR when the tube voltage of higher than 50 kV was adopted. In the comparison of the CNRs, It was necessary to pay attention to equalizing the average glandular dose (AGD). Using the simulation and ERPCM, we compared the CNR between images taken at 50 kV and 75 kV under a constant AGD. The simulation phantom was composed of 50% mammary gland and 50% adipose tissue, and contained tumor regions. The thickness of the simulation phantom was varied. We put an acrylic plate (1 mm thickness) on an RMI-156 phantom. Furthermore, we placed the thicker acrylic plate (10, 20, 30, 40 mm) on the 156 phantom and 1 mm-thick acrylic plate to simulate thicker breast. Based on the results from the simulation, in the phantom thickness of 80 mm, the CNR of image taken by 75kV got extremely closer to that taken by 50kV. The advantage of the image taken at 75 kV for the thicker breast was also confirmed in ERPCM.

In this study, we propose a new image display method to obtain high contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) using energy resolved photon-counting mammography (ERPCM) with a cadmium telluride (CdTe) series detector manufactured by JOB CORPOLATION. The CdTe series detector can detect high-energy photons with high sensitivity, enabling users to image with high-energy X-rays. Using this detector, it is possible to reduce the dose given to a patient while increasing the CNR. First, the spectrum was divided into three bins and their corresponding linear attenuation coefficients were calculated from input and output photon numbers. Further, absorption vector length (AVL) and average absorption length (AAL) were calculated from the linear attenuation coefficients and from thicknesses of objects after beam-hardening correction. We further compared the CNR between ERPCM and general mammography images under the constant average glandular dose (AGD). We imaged an acrylic plate (1 mm thick) on RMI-156 phantom, determined regions of interest (ROIs) on an acrylic plate and background, and calculated the CNR. Our ERPCM generated two types of images: an AVL image and an AAL image. AMULET Innovality manufactured by FUJIFILM generated an integrated image. MicroDose SI manufactured by Philips generated a count image and removed electrical noise by the photon-counting technique. The four images, in order of decreasing CNR, were the AAL image, AVL image, MicroDose image, and AMULET image. The proposed method using ERPCM generated an image with higher CNR than images using general mammography under the constant AGD.

Recently, photon-counting detectors capable of resolving incident x-ray photon energies have been considered for use in spectral x-ray imaging applications. For reliable use of energy-resolved photon-counting detectors (ERPCDs), energy calibration is an essential procedure prior to their use because variations in responses from each pixel of the ERPCD for incident photons, even at the same energy, are inevitable. Energy calibration can be performed using a variety of methods. In all of these methods, the photon spectra with well-defined peak energies are recorded. Every pixel should be calibrated on its own. In this study, we suggest the use of a conventional polychromatic x-ray source (that is typically used in laboratories) for energy calibration. The energy calibration procedure mainly includes the determination of the peak energies in the spectra, flood-field irradiation, determination of peak channels, and determination of calibration curves (i.e., the slopes and intercepts of linear polynomials). We applied a calibration algorithm to a CdTe ERPCD comprised of 128×128 pixels with a pitch of 0.35 mm using highly attenuated polychromatic x-ray beams to reduce the pulse pile-up effect, and to obtain a narrow-shaped spectrum due to beam hardening. The averaged relative error in calibration curves obtained from 16,384 pixels was about 0.56% for 59.6 keV photons from an Americium radioisotope. This pixel-by-pixel energy calibration enhanced the signal- and contrast-to-noise ratios in images, respectively, by a factor of ~5 and 3 due to improvement in image homogeneity, compared to those obtained without energy calibration. One secondary finding of this study was that the x-ray photon spectra obtained using a common algorithm for computing x-ray spectra reasonably described the peaks in the measured spectra, which implies easier peak detection without the direct measurement of spectra using a separate spectrometer. The proposed method will be a useful alternative to conventional approaches using radioisotopes, a synchrotron, or specialized x-ray sources (e.g., characteristic or fluorescent x-rays) by reducing concerns over the beam flux, the irradiation field of view, accessibility, and cost.

Dual-energy computed tomography (CT) techniques have been used to decompose materials and characterize tissues according to their physical and chemical compositions. However, these techniques are hampered by the limitations of conventional x-ray detectors operated in charge integrating mode. Energy-resolved photon-counting detectors provide spectral information from polychromatic x-rays using multiple energy thresholds. These detectors allow simultaneous acquisition of data in different energy ranges without spectral overlap, resulting in more efficient material decomposition and quantification for dual-energy CT. In this study, a pre-reconstruction dual-energy CT technique based on volume conservation was proposed for three-material decomposition. The technique was combined with iterative reconstruction algorithms by using a ray-driven projector in order to improve the quality of decomposition images and reduce radiation dose. A spectral CT system equipped with a CZT-based photon-counting detector was used to implement the proposed dual-energy CT technique. We obtained dual-energy images of calibration and three-material phantoms consisting of low atomic number materials from the optimal energy bins determined by Monte Carlo simulations. The material decomposition process was accomplished by both the proposed and post-reconstruction dual-energy CT techniques. Linear regression and normalized root-mean-square error (NRMSE) analyses were performed to evaluate the quantitative accuracy of decomposition images. The calibration accuracy of the proposed dual-energy CT technique was higher than that of the post-reconstruction dual-energy CT technique, with fitted slopes of 0.97-1.01 and NRMSEs of 0.20-4.50% for all basis materials. In the three-material phantom study, the proposed dual-energy CT technique decreased the NRMSEs of measured volume fractions by factors of 0.17-0.28 compared to the post-reconstruction dual-energy CT technique. It was concluded that the proposed dual-energy CT technique can potentially be used to decompose mixtures into basis materials and characterize tissues according to their composition.

Dynamic hot-electron emission using time-resolved photon counting can address the long-term failure analysis and debug requirements of the semiconductor industry's advanced devices. This article identifies the detector performance parameters and components that are required to scale and keep pace with the industry's requirements. It addresses the scalability of dynamic emission with the semiconductor advanced device roadmap. It is important to understand the limitations to determining that a switching event has occurred. The article explains the criteria for event detection, which is suitable for tracking signal propagation and looking for logic or other faults in which timing is not critical. It discusses conditions for event timing, whose goal is to determine accurately when a switching event has occurred, usually for speed path analysis. One of the uses of a dynamic emission system is to identify faults by studying the emission as a general function of time.

The energy-resolved photon counting detector provides the spectral information that can be used to generate images. The novel imaging methods, including the K-edge imaging, projection-based energy weighting imaging and image-based energy weighting imaging, are based on the energy-resolved photon counting detector and can be realized by using various energy windows or energy bins. The location and width of the energy windows or energy bins are important because these techniques generate an image using the spectral information defined by the energy windows or energy bins. In this study, the reconstructed images acquired with K-edge imaging, projection-based energy weighting imaging and image-based energy weighting imaging were simulated using the Monte Carlo simulation. The effect of energy windows or energy bins was investigated with respect to the contrast, coefficient-of-variation (COV) and contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR). The three images were compared with respect to the CNR. We modeled the x-ray computed tomography system based on the CdTe energy-resolved photon counting detector and polymethylmethacrylate phantom, which have iodine, gadolinium and blood. To acquire K-edge images, the lower energy thresholds were fixed at K-edge absorption energy of iodine and gadolinium and the energy window widths were increased from 1 to 25 bins. The energy weighting factors optimized for iodine, gadolinium and blood were calculated from 5, 10, 15, 19 and 33 energy bins. We assigned the calculated energy weighting factors to the images acquired at each energy bin. In K-edge images, the contrast and COV decreased, when the energy window width was increased. The CNR increased as a function of the energy window width and decreased above the specific energy window width. When the number of energy bins was increased from 5 to 15, the contrast increased in the projection-based energy weighting images. There is a little difference in the contrast, when the number of energy bin is increased from 15 to 33. The COV of the background in the projection-based energy weighting images is only slightly changed as a function of the number of energy bins. In the image-based energy weighting images, when the number of energy bins were increased, the contrast and COV increased and decreased, respectively. The CNR increased as a function of the number of energy bins. It was concluded that the image quality is dependent on the energy window, and an appropriate choice of the energy window is important to improve the image quality.

The goal of this paper was to investigate the benefits that could be realistically achieved on a microCT imaging system with an energy-resolved photon-counting x-ray detector. To this end, we built and evaluated a prototype microCT system based on such a detector. The detector is based on cadmium telluride (CdTe) radiation sensors and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) readouts. Each detector pixel can simultaneously count x-ray photons above six energy thresholds, providing the capability for energy-selective x-ray imaging. We tested the spectroscopic performance of the system using polychromatic x-ray radiation and various filtering materials with K-absorption edges. Tomographic images were then acquired of a cylindrical PMMA phantom containing holes filled with various materials. Results were also compared with those acquired using an intensity-integrating x-ray detector and single-energy (i.e. non-energy-selective) CT. This paper describes the functionality and performance of the system, and presents preliminary spectroscopic and tomographic results. The spectroscopic experiments showed that the energy-resolved photon-counting detector was capable of measuring energy spectra from polychromatic sources like a standard x-ray tube, and resolving absorption edges present in the energy range used for imaging. However, the spectral quality was degraded by spectral distortions resulting from degrading factors, including finite energy resolution and charge sharing. We developed a simple charge-sharing model to reproduce these distortions. The tomographic experiments showed that the availability of multiple energy thresholds in the photon-counting detector allowed us to simultaneously measure target-to-background contrasts in different energy ranges. Compared with single-energy CT with an integrating detector, this feature was especially useful to improve differentiation of materials with different attenuation coefficient energy dependences.

Purpose: The objective of the study was to demonstrate that, in x-ray computed tomography (CT), more than two types of materials can be effectively separated with the use of an energy resolved photon-counting detector and classification methodology. Specifically, this applies to the case when contrast agents that contain K-absorption edges in the energy range of interest are present in the object. This separation is enabled via the use of recently developed energy resolved photon-counting detectors with multiple thresholds, which allow simultaneous measurements of the x-ray attenuation at multiple energies. Methods: To demonstrate this capability, we performed simulations and physical experiments using a six-threshold energy resolved photon-counting detector. We imaged mouse-sized cylindrical phantoms filled with several soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials and with iodine-based and gadolinium-based contrast agents. The linear attenuation coefficients were reconstructed for each material in each energy window and were visualized as scatter plots between pairs of energy windows. For comparison, a dual-kVp CT was also simulated using the same phantom materials. In this case, the linear attenuation coefficients at the lower kVp were plotted against those at the higher kVp. Results: In both the simulations and the physical experiments, the contrast agents were easily separable from other soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials, thanks to the availability of the attenuation coefficient measurements at more than two energies provided by the energy resolved photon-counting detector. In the simulations, the amount of separation was observed to be proportional to the concentration of the contrast agents; however, this was not observed in the physical experiments due to limitations of the real detector system. We used the angle between pairs of attenuation coefficient vectors in either the 5-D space (for non-contrast-agent materials using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition) or a 2-D space (for contrast agents using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition and all materials using dual-kVp acquisition) as a measure of the degree of separation. Compared to dual-kVp techniques, an energy resolved detector provided a larger separation and the ability to separate different target materials using measurements acquired in different energy window pairs with a single x-ray exposure. Conclusions: We concluded that x-ray CT with an energy resolved photon-counting detector with more than two energy windows allows the separation of more than two types of materials, e.g., soft-tissue-like, bone-like, and one or more materials with K-edges in the energy range of interest. Separating material types using energy resolved photon-counting detectors has a number of advantages over dual-kVp CT in terms of the degree of separation and the number of materials that can be separated simultaneously.

New horizons in x-ray imaging have been opened up with the emergence of energy-resolved photon counting detectors (PCDs). These include the ability to differentiate material components and estimate their equivalent thickness or relative ratio by processing a single shot acquisition image. However, such techniques require highly accurate images, especially for materials close in terms of attenuation. The presence of scattered radiation leads to a loss of contrast and, more importantly, a bias in radiographic material imaging and artefacts in cone-beam CT. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the performance gain in material imaging when a Partial Attenuation Spectral Scatter Separation Approach (PASSSA) is used. This evaluation was based on numerical simulations using Sindbad-SFFD. The comparison of water and bone thickness images acquired from scatter free, scatter corrupted and PASSSA-corrected images showed that the application of the considered correction method improved thickness estimation accuracy. The average relative thickness estimation error per pixel was reduced by around a factor of 4.7 for both water and bone images when comparing scatter corrupted and PASSSA-corrected cases.

In this paper, we present the design and preliminary performance evaluation of a novel energy-resolved photon-counting (ERPC) detector for gamma ray imaging applications. The prototype ERPC detector has an active area of 4.4 cm × 4.4 cm, which is pixelated into 128 × 128 square pixels with a pitch size of 350 µm × 350µm. The current detector consists of multiple detector hybrids, each with a CdTe crystal of 1.1 cm × 2.2 cm × 1 mm, bump-bonded onto a custom-designed application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ERPC ASIC has 2048 readout channels arranged in a 32 × 64 array. Each channel is equipped with pre- and shaping-amplifiers, a discriminator, peak/hold circuitry and an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) for digitizing the signal amplitude. In order to compensate for the pixel-to-pixel variation, two 8-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are implemented into each channel for tuning the gain and offset. The ERPC detector is designed to offer a high spatial resolution, a wide dynamic range of 12–200 keV and a good energy resolution of 3–4 keV. The hybrid detector configuration provides a flexible detection area that can be easily tailored for different imaging applications. The intrinsic performance of a prototype ERPC detector was evaluated with various gamma ray sources, and the results are presented.

Purpose: Recently, novel CdTe photon counting x-ray detectors (PCXDs) with energy discrimination capabilities have been developed. When such detectors are operated under a high x-ray flux, however, coincident pulses distort the recorded energy spectrum. These distortions are called pulse pileup effects. It is essential to compensate for these effects on the recorded energy spectrum in order to take full advantage of spectral information PCXDs provide. Such compensation can be achieved by incorporating a pileup model into the image reconstruction process for computed tomography, that is, as a part of the forward imaging process, and iteratively estimating either the imaged object or the line integrals using, e.g., a maximum likelihood approach. The aim of this study was to develop a new analytical pulse pileup model for both peak and tail pileup effects for nonparalyzable detectors. Methods: The model takes into account the following factors: The bipolar shape of the pulse, the distribution function of time intervals between random events, and the input probability density function of photon energies. The authors used Monte Carlo simulations to evaluate the model. Results: The recorded spectra estimated by the model were in an excellent agreement with those obtained by Monte Carlo simulations for various levels of pulse pileup effects. The coefficients of variation (i.e., the root mean square difference divided by the mean of measurements) were 5.3%–10.0% for deadtime losses of 1%–50% with a polychromatic incident x-ray spectrum. Conclusions: The proposed pulse pileup model can predict recorded spectrum with relatively good accuracy.

Our research goal is to develop diffuse optical tomography (DOT) capable of quantitative measurement. Information on optical pathlength is essential for reconstructing images with quantitative properties, and we have performed image reconstruction with a simulation model using a time-resolved photon path distribution (time-resolved PPD). The results showed that a DOT image reconstruction algorithm using this PPD is effective in quantifying the absorbers in a scattering medium such as human tissue. This algorithm uses a photon distribution independent of absorption by simply assuming that the measurement object is homogeneous, which means that PPD needs to be calculated only once. Our technique is therefore applicable to short-time imaging of measurement objects for which absorption changes flatness such as that in human tissue.

We investigated the effect of different imaging parameters, such as dose, beam energy, energy resolution and the number of energy bins, on the image quality of K-edge spectral computed tomography (CT) of gold nanoparticles (GNP) accumulated in an atherosclerotic plaque. A maximum likelihood technique was employed to estimate the concentration of GNP, which served as a targeted intravenous contrast material intended to detect the degree of the plaque's inflammation. The simulation studies used a single-slice parallel beam CT geometry with an x-ray beam energy ranging between 50 and 140 kVp. The synthetic phantoms included small (3 cm in diameter) cylinder and chest (33 × 24 cm2) phantoms, where both phantoms contained tissue, calcium and gold. In the simulation studies, GNP quantification and background (calcium and tissue) suppression tasks were pursued. The x-ray detection sensor was represented by an energy resolved photon counting detector (e.g., CdZnTe) with adjustable energy bins. Both ideal and more realistic (12% full width at half maximum (FWHM) energy resolution) implementations of the photon counting detector were simulated. The simulations were performed for the CdZnTe detector with a pixel pitch of 0.5-1 mm, which corresponds to a performance without significant charge sharing and cross-talk effects. The Rose model was employed to estimate the minimum detectable concentration of GNPs. A figure of merit (FOM) was used to optimize the x-ray beam energy (kVp) to achieve the highest signal-to-noise ratio with respect to the patient dose. As a result, the successful identification of gold and background suppression was demonstrated. The highest FOM was observed at the 125 kVp x-ray beam energy. The minimum detectable GNP concentration was determined to be approximately 1.06 mol mL-1(0.21 mg mL-1) for an ideal detector and about 2.5 mol mL-1(0.49 mg mL-1) for a more realistic (12% FWHM) detector. The studies show the optimal imaging parameters at the lowest patient dose using an energy resolved photon counting detector to image GNP in an atherosclerotic plaque. © 2014 Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine.

Efficient forward models of photon migration in complex geometries are important for noninvasive imaging of tissue in vivo with diffuse optical tomography (DOT). In particular, solving the inverse problem requires multiple solutions of the forward model and is therefore computationally intensive. We present a numerical algorithm for the rapid solution of the time-dependent diffusion equation in a semi-infinite inhomogeneous medium whose scattering and absorption coefficients are arbitrary functions of depth, given a point source impulsive excitation. Such stratified media are biomedically important. A transverse modal representation leads to a series of one-dimensional diffusion problems which are solved via finite-difference methods. A novel time-stepping scheme allows effort to scale independently of total time (for fixed system size). Tayloring to the DOT application gives run times of order 0.1 s. We study convergence, computational effort, and validate against known solutions in the case of 2-layer media. The method will be useful for other forward and inverse diffusion problems, such as heat conduction and conductivity measurement.

We present the characterization of two-dimensionally arranged 64-pixel NbTiN superconducting nanowire single-photon detector array for spatially resolved photon detection. NbTiN films deposited on thermally oxidized Si substrates enabled the high-yield production of high-quality SSPD pixels, and all 64 SSPD pixels showed uniform superconducting characteristics. Furthermore, all of the pixels showed single-photon sensitivity, and 60 of the 64 pixels showed a pulse generation probability higher than 90% after photon absorption. As a result of light irradiation from the single-mode optical fiber at different distances between the fiber tip and the active area, the variations of system detection efficiency in each pixel showed reasonable Gaussian distribution to represent the spatial distributions of photon flux intensity., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures

We have studied the photon flux dependence of the steady state photoconductivity in intrinsic and lightly boron-doped hydrogenated amorphous silicon samples illuminated with monochromatic light of sub-bandgap energy. We also report measurements of the sub-bandgap absorption coefficient carried out by using the dc constant photocurrent method (CPM) under different constant values of the photocurrent. We show that the exponent of the power law relation between the photocurrent and the photon flux (which we name λ) depends on the photon energy. This result contradicts one basic hypothesis of the CPM. As a consequence of this fact, the absorption coefficient measured with the CPM is dependent on the constant photocurrent chosen to perform the measurement. Computer simulations based on a complete model for the absorption process reproduce both of these experimental results. We conclude that this model can be used to handle CPM data in order to obtain the actual sub-gap absorption spectra.

The objective of the study was to demonstrate that, in x-ray computed tomography (CT), more than two types of materials can be effectively separated with the use of an energy resolved photon-counting detector and classification methodology. Specifically, this applies to the case when contrast agents that contain K-absorption edges in the energy range of interest are present in the object. This separation is enabled via the use of recently developed energy resolved photon-counting detectors with multiple thresholds, which allow simultaneous measurements of the x-ray attenuation at multiple energies.To demonstrate this capability, we performed simulations and physical experiments using a six-threshold energy resolved photon-counting detector. We imaged mouse-sized cylindrical phantoms filled with several soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials and with iodine-based and gadolinium-based contrast agents. The linear attenuation coefficients were reconstructed for each material in each energy window and were visualized as scatter plots between pairs of energy windows. For comparison, a dual-kVp CT was also simulated using the same phantom materials. In this case, the linear attenuation coefficients at the lower kVp were plotted against those at the higher kVp.In both the simulations and the physical experiments, the contrast agents were easily separable from other soft-tissue-like and bone-like materials, thanks to the availability of the attenuation coefficient measurements at more than two energies provided by the energy resolved photon-counting detector. In the simulations, the amount of separation was observed to be proportional to the concentration of the contrast agents; however, this was not observed in the physical experiments due to limitations of the real detector system. We used the angle between pairs of attenuation coefficient vectors in either the 5-D space (for non-contrast-agent materials using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition) or a 2-D space (for contrast agents using energy resolved photon-counting acquisition and all materials using dual-kVp acquisition) as a measure of the degree of separation. Compared to dual-kVp techniques, an energy resolved detector provided a larger separation and the ability to separate different target materials using measurements acquired in different energy window pairs with a single x-ray exposure.We concluded that x-ray CT with an energy resolved photon-counting detector with more than two energy windows allows the separation of more than two types of materials, e.g., soft-tissue-like, bone-like, and one or more materials with K-edges in the energy range of interest. Separating material types using energy resolved photon-counting detectors has a number of advantages over dual-kVp CT in terms of the degree of separation and the number of materials that can be separated simultaneously.

Resources for the manipulation and measurements of high-dimensional photonic signals are crucial for implementing qu$d$it-based applications. Here we propose potentially high-performance, chip-compatible devices for such purposes by exploiting quantum-frequency conversion in nonlinear optical media. Specifically, by using sum-frequency generation in a $\chi^{(2)}$ waveguide we show how mode-resolved photon counting can be accomplished for telecom-band photonic signals subtending multiple temporal modes. Our method is generally applicable to any nonlinear medium with arbitrary dispersion property.

Thanks to the electron multiplying function that can effectively convert the weak incident photon signal to amplified electron output, electron multiplying charged-coupled devices (EMCCDs) are becoming useful and popular detectors in photon counting regimes necessitating also spatial resolution. A multi-imaging strategy has been already proposed and experimentally tested to improve the accuracy of photon counting with an EMCCD, by taking into account the random nature of its on-chip gain and the possibility of multiple photodetection events on 1 pixel. In this paper, referring to the thresholding procedure developed for photon counting, we present a clear graphical method for the threshold and the optimal light level estimations. Thanks to the graphical visualization of the probabilities involved in the detection errors on 1 pixel, we are able to derive in a straightforward way and for any EMCCD, the threshold level and thus the best mean level of illumination to be used in order to minimize the false detection probabilities that might ruin the image statistics, especially in cases where quantum spatial effects might be observed. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Time-resolved light scattering profiles were measured from highly forward-scattering media in the spatial range of 5\char21{}15 transport mean free paths ${(l}_{t}).$ Experimental profiles were compared with theoretical predictions based on the non-Euclidean diffusion (NED) and conventional diffusion approximation (DA) equations. The NED model was found to be better in predicting scattered photon distribution over various temporal and spatial scales than the DA approach.

Experimental tests have been carried out for characterizing the performance of a new single-photon avalanche diode. The detector is specifically designed for picosecond time-correlated single photon counting, aiming to obtain a time response free from the tail effects and/or secondary bumps observed in all other available single-photon detectors. The experimental results confirm that an unprecedented ultraclean response is attained, with full width at half maximum (FWHM) of 35 ps, full width at a thousandth of the peak count of 214 ps, together with a photon detection efficiency of 35% around 580-nm wavelength.

We have fabricated a fast energy-resolved photon-counting x-ray imaging array using pixellated cadmium telluride (CdTe) semiconductor sensors and have achieved an output count rate (OCR) exceeding 20 million counts per second per square mm (Mcps/mm2) measured with a clinical computed tomography (CT) x-ray source. We have also fabricated a fast application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from pixellated direct-conversion CdTe or cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) sensors. The new 2D ASICs have four energy bins with a linear energy response across the entire dynamic range for clinical CT, which is between 30 keV and 140 keV. We have measured several important performance parameters including an energy resolution of 8 keV FWHM across the entire dynamic range and a noise floor less than 23 keV by connecting the 2D ASIC to a CdTe sensor. The uniform energy resolution over the entire dynamic range is an indication of good charge collection from the direct conversion sensors. The energy resolution is maintained at high flux over long varying exposure to x-rays indicating polarization free performance from the sensors. Our results demonstrate fast output count rates from a clinical CT x-ray source, with good energy resolution and a low noise floor. The sensors and ASICs are designed to fit into existing clinical CT systems.

Time resolved photon counting was used to separate the different photon states emitted from a strongly attenuated laser source. We first describe a method to quantify the efficiency of our gated avalanche photo-detector, by relying on known Poissonian statistics. The detector was then optimized under different temperature and bias voltage conditions using the noise equivalent power as a metric. Finally, coherent pulses are sent into a ring cavity, such that the tapped output from the cavity forms a series of time multiplexed pulses, which then yield the photon counting statistics. We observed good agreement between theoretical estimates and experimental observations, to as low as 0.01% probability of detection.

A confocal microscope setup is developed for time-resolved fluorescence measurements. It is added to a traditional cuvette time-resolved setup, with a pumped Ti-Sa light source. The temporal resolution of 37 ps (FWHM) is not degraded, in comparison with the cuvette setup also described. These setups allow both decay lifetime and anisotropy relaxation time determination. Fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) is used to determine the observation point size. When associated with the calcium probe calcium green, calcium concentration in single cells can be determined in 10 ms by simultaneous acquisition of early and late fluorescence photons.

We have fabricated fast room-temperature energy dispersive photon counting x-ray imaging arrays using pixellated cadmium zinc (CdTe) and cadmium zinc telluride (CdZnTe) semiconductors. We have also fabricated fast application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) with a two dimensional (2D) array of inputs for readout from the CdZnTe sensors. The new CdTe and CdZnTe sensors have a 2D array of pixels with a 0.5 mm pitch and can be tiled in 2D. The new 2D ASICs have four energy discriminators per pixel with a linear energy response across the entire dynamic range for clinical CT. The ASICs can also be tiled in 2D and are designed to fit within the active area of the 2D sensors. We have measured several important performance parameters including; an output count rate (OCR) in excess of 20 million counts per second per square mm, an energy resolution of 7 keV full width at half maximum (FWHM) across the entire dynamic range, and a noise floor less than 20 keV. This is achieved by directly interconnecting the ASIC inputs to the pixels of the CdTE and CdZnTe sensors incurring very little additional capacitance. We present a comparison of the performance of the CdTe and CdZnTe sensors including the OCR, FWHM energy resolution, and noise floor.

Conventional x-ray detectors integrate the photon energy flux, losing individual photon energy information. By contrast, energy resolved photon-counting x-ray detectors (PCXDs) count photons in energy windows, thus retaining some energy information. This provides a number of advantages, including the use of energy information to aid in material discrimination. However, this capability relies on accurately measuring changes in the energy spectrum as the x-ray beam passes through the object. Several effects, including characteristic x-ray effects and charge sharing between detector pixels, result in distortions in the energy spectrum that complicate measuring the attenuating effects of the object on the energy spectrum. Our goal was to investigate and develop models for these effects that would be useful in compensating for them in applications involving spectral analysis. We used a previously developed 6-threshold CdTe-based PCXD to validate the models. Previously with this detector we observed higher than predicted counts at low energies. Characteristic x-rays emitted in the detector can distort the spectrum in a pixel via x-ray escape either out of the detector or into adjacent pixels, giving rise to a count with a reduced energy. The escaped x-rays can also produce reduced-energy counts in adjacent pixels. The second effect, charge sharing, results since x-ray interactions in the detector produce a charge cloud with finite size. If close to a pixel boundary and combined with charge diffusion, reduced-energy counts in both pixels can be produced. In this study, we developed a fast Monte Carlo method for modeling characteristic x-ray effects and an analytic method for modeling charge sharing effects. The models produced energy spectra in good agreement with those measured by the PCXD. These models can be used to improve the performance of energy-based composition estimation and ring correction methods by modeling the spectral distortions present in real detectors.

ChromAIX is an ASIC for fast single photoncounting designed to study the feasibility of energy-resolved photon-counting human Spectral CT. It allows for reading out 4 × 16 pixels of a direct converting sensor made of Cd[Zn]Te with a pixel pitch of about 300μm. It supports K-edge imaging [3]. After thorough electrical testing reported in [6] characterization under g- and X-rays was done giving promising results as to the behavior of the ASIC, and revealing the known limitations of direct conversion material (flux limitation, polarization behavior). Measurements with g- and X-rays are compared with simulation results, and good correspondence is obtained.

This paper presents preliminary experimental results obtained with a prototype SPECT system for small animal studies. This system is based on novel energy-resolved photon counting (ERPC) detectors we have recently developed for gamma ray imaging applications. The ERPC detector has basic modular configuration that offers an overall detection area of 4.5 cm × 4.5 cm, comprising of eight CdTe/CMOS detector hybrids. Each hybrid has a CdTe detector of 11 mm × 22 mm bump-bonded onto a dedicated readout ASIC that has 32 × 64 readout pixels with 350 μm pitch size. The 1mm and 2mm thickness CdTe detector have both been developed. This configuration offers a very-high spatial resolution of around 350 μm and an excellent energy resolution of around 3∼4 keV at 140 keV. The prototype SPECT system that consists of two or four ERPC detectors is mounted on a system gantry rotating around a horizontal axis. The detectors are coupled to apertures with differently sized pinholes. In order to utilize the imaging information provided by the ERPC detector, we have developed a comprehensive system modelling and calibration method that accounts for the irregular shapes and physical details in the collimation apertures. Detailed system design and experimental procedures will be described in this paper.

A diffused optical mammography composed of a 48-channel time-resolved spectroscopy system is being developed for breast cancer diagnosis. The system utilizes the time-correlated single photon counting method, and the detector modules and the signal processing circuits were custom made to obtain a high signal to noise ratio and high temperature stability with a high temporal resolution. Pulsed light generated by a Ti:Sapphire laser was irradiated to the breast, and the transmitted light was collected by optical fibers placed on the surface of a hemispherical gantry filled with an optical matching fluid. To reconstruct a 3D image of the breast, we employed a method using time-resolved photon path distribution (time-resolved PPD) based on the assumption that scattering and absorption are independent of each other. As it is not necessary to recalculate the time-resolved PPD corresponding to any changes in the absorption, we can obtain the reconstructed image quickly. The clinical research was started in January 2007. In a comparative study with conventional modalities, the breast cancers were detected as optically higher absorption regions. Moreover, it was suggested that the optical mammography is useful in monitoring the effect of chemotherapy.

In this paper, we present the design and preliminary performance evaluation of a novel energy-resolved photon-counting (ERPC) detector for gamma ray imaging applications. The prototype ERPC detector has an active area of 4.4 cm x 4.4 cm, which is pixelated into 128 x 128 square pixels with a pitch size of 350 μm 350 μm. The current detector consists of multiple detector hybrids, each with a CdTe crystal of 1.1 cm x 2.2 cm x 1 mm, bump-bonded onto a customdesigned application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). The ERPC ASIC has 2048 readout channels arranged in a 3264 array. Each channel is equipped with pre- and shaping-amplifiers, a discriminator, peak/hold circuitry, and an analog-todigital converter (ADC) for digitizing the signal amplitude. In order to compensate for the pixel-to-pixel variation, two 8-bit DACs are implemented into each channel for tuning the gain and offset. The ERPC detector is designed to offer a high spatial resolution, a wide dynamic range of 12-200 keV and a good energy resolution of 3-4 keV. The hybrid detector configuration provides a flexible detection area that can be easily tailored for different imaging applications. The intrinsic performance of a prototype ERPC detector was evaluated with various gamma ray sources, and the results are presented.

In this article, we describe a novel Monte Carlo code for time-integrated and time-resolved photon migration simulations of excitation and fluorescent light propagation (with reabsorption) in bi-layered models of biological tissues. The code was experimentally validated using bi-layered, tissue-simulating phantoms and the agreement between simulations and experiment was better than 3%. We demonstrate the utility of the code for quantitative clinical optical diagnostics in epithelial tissues by examining design characteristics for clinically compatible waveguides with arbitrarily complex source-detector configurations. Results for human colonic tissues included a quantitative comparison of simulation predictions with time-resolved fluorescence data measured in vivo and spatio-temporal visualizations of photon migration characteristics in tissue models in both two- and three-dimensions for source-detector configurations, including variable waveguide spacing, numerical aperture, and diameter. These results were then extended from surface point spectroscopy to imaging modalities for both time-gated (fluorescence lifetime) and steady-state (fluorescence intensity) experimental conditions. To illustrate the flexibility of this computational approach, time-domain results were extended to simulate predictions for frequency-domain instrumentation. This work is the first demonstration and validation of a time-domain, multi-wavelength photon transport model with these capabilities in layered turbid-media.

Recently, a growing interest has arisen about the time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) technique, that allows the analysis of fast and weak light waveforms with a time resolution in the picosecond order. Since TCSPC basically consists of the measurement of the arrival time of a photon, a high resolution and high linearity time measurement block is of the utmost importance; moreover, the use of multianode Photo Multiplier Tube and of single photon avalanche diode arrays led to the development of multichannel acquisition systems, where the time measurement block has to be integrated to reduce both cost and area. We have designed and fabricated a four channel fully integrated time-to-amplitude converter (TAC), built in 0.35 μm Si-Ge technology, characterized by an excellent time resolution (less than 50 ps full width half maximum), low differential nonlinearity (better than 0.02 LSB peak-peak and 0.0003 LSB rms), high counting rate (16 MHz), low and constant power dissipation (50 mW) and low area occupation (2.58 × 1.28 mm2 ). Moreover, the very low crosstalk ( -115 dB) between channels, together with low power and low area makes the converter suitable for large scale multi-channel acquisition chains.

The very high x-ray flux rates employed in today's human computed tomography (CT) scanners in order to keep scanning times at a conveniently low level constitute the most challenging obstacle to the advent of clinical, photon-counting (spectral) CT. Even with most sophisticated, application-specific, energy-discriminating, photon-counting readout electronics, designed for room-temperature semi-conductor sensors like CdTe or CZT, the effects of spectral degradation due to pulse pile-up, i.e., count rate losses and gains will have to be taken into account in a clinical setting. The energy registered in a first-order pile-up event (superposition of two pulses) depends strongly on the energies of the two primaries involved, the difference in their arrival times and the spectral detector response behavior. We present an analytic model for the number of expected counts in binned photon-counting detectors, which is based on work by Wielopolski and Gardner and takes into account the combined effects of a spectral detector response function and 1st order pulse pile-up. The analytic model is validated by means of Monte-Carlo simulations and is applied to a simulation of a clinical spectral CT scenario in the context of K-edge imaging of a high-atomic number element as a contrast material. The artifacts in the reconstructed single-bin images and their manifestation in material-decomposed images are discussed and interpreted in terms of gains and losses of counts due to pile-up. Finally, we discuss the shortcomings of the model like the limitation to 1st order pile-up and the inherent restriction of the Wielopolski-Gardner model to peak pile-up.

We demonstrate that an ultra-fast CMOS camera combined with a photon counting image intensifier can be used to determine photon arrival times well below the exposure time of the camera. We can obtain a time resolution down to around 1% of the exposure time, i.e. of the order of 40 ns with microsecond exposure times. This is achieved by exploiting the invariant phosphor decay of the image intensifier's phosphor screen: Developing a suitable mathematical framework, we show that the relative intensities of the phosphor decay in successive frames following the photon detection uniquely determine the photon arrival time. This approach opens a way to measuring fast luminescence decays in parallel in many pixels. Possible applications include oxygen and ion concentration imaging using probes with luminescence lifetimes in the range of 100 ns to microseconds.

We present numerical and experimental results of time-resolved emission profiles from various layered turbid media. Numerical solutions determined by time-resolved Monte Carlo simulations are compared with measurements on layered-tissue phantoms made from gelatin. In particular, we show that in certain cases the effects of the upper layers can be eliminated. As a practical example, these results are used to analyze in vivo measurements on the human head. This demonstrates the influence of skin, skull, and meninges on the determination of the blood oxygenation in the brain.

The use of a conventional streak camera for subnanosecond time-resolved fluorimetry is extended to the single-photon counting regime by utilizing intensified readout of the phosphor. The system achieves the usual key advantages of photon counting, namely single-photon sensitivity, large dynamic range and shot noise limited statistics, but also permits measurements of lower repetition rate and faster time response phenomena, in regimes inaccessible to microchannel plate photomultiplier instrumentation. Pile-up and problems associated with the slow decay and non-uniformity of the response and readout of the stream camera phosphor are discussed.

Purpose: Energy-resolved photon-counting detectors have the capability to discriminate photons according to their energies. By using optimal energy weighting factors, the contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR) of the reconstructed image can be improved. In this work, we investigate how quantum detection efficiency (QDE) affects the determination of the optimal energy threshold bins, and therefore the CNR improvement of photon-counting detectors. Methods: In this simulation study a photon-counting detector, based on Silicon (Si), was investigated. A task-oriented algorithm was used to determine the optimal energy bin setting in order to maximize CNR. Projection-based and Image-based energy weighting techniques were implemented. A 13 mm PMMA phantom with two contrast materials, hydroxyapatite (HA) and iodine (I), at different concentrations (100, 200, and 300 mg/mL for HA and 2, 4, and 8 mg/mL for I) was used. TASMIP algorithm was used to generate the spectrum with 2.7 mm Al filter. Different tube voltages, number of energy bins, and bin widths were investigated. Different thicknesses of Si were also investigated to determine the QDE effect on CNR. Results: CNR increased as the detector material thickness increased until it reached 30 mm for Si thickness such that the CNR value was near to the value predicted by an idealmore » detector. Also, the results indicated that the improvement of CNR due to the QDE is task-dependent when comparing weighted images to photon-counting images. For hydroxyapatite the improvement is approximately 20%, whereas for iodine it is less than 10%. Conclusion: The results showed that the improvement of CNR for an energy-resolved photon-counting detector is highly task-dependent when QDE is taken into account.« less

Purpose: Finding the optimal energy threshold setting for an energy-resolved photon-counting detector has an important impact on the maximization of contrast-to-noise-ratio (CNR). We introduce a noise reduction method to enhance CNR by reducing the noise in each energy bin without altering the average gray levels in the projection and image domains. Methods: We simulated a four bin energy-resolved photon-counting detector based on Si with a 10 mm depth of interaction. TASMIP algorithm was used to simulate a spectrum of 65 kVp with 2.7 mm Al filter. A 13 mm PMMA phantom with hydroxyapatite and iodine at different concentrations (100, 200 and 300 mg/ml for HA, and 2, 4, and 8 mg/ml for Iodine) was used. Projection-based and Image-based energy weighting methods were used to generate weighted images. A reference low noise image was used for noise reduction purposes. A Gaussian-like weighting function which computes the similarity between pixels of interest was calculated from the reference image and implemented on a pixel by pixel basis for the noisy images. Results: CNR improvement compared to different methods (Charge-Integrated, Photon-Counting and Energy-Weighting) and after noise reduction was highly task-dependent. The CNR improvement with respect to the Charge-Integrated CNR for hydroxyapatite and iodine were 1.8 and 1.5, respectively. In each of the energy bins, the noise was reduced by approximately factor of two without altering their respective average gray levels. Conclusion: The proposed noise reduction technique for energy-resolved photon-counting detectors can significantly reduce image noise. This technique can be used as a compliment to the current energy-weighting methods in CNR optimization.

A novel scheme for fully scalable White Monte Carlo (WMC) has been developed and is used as a forward solver in the evaluation of experimental time-resolved spectroscopy. Previously reported scaling problems are avoided by storing detection events individually, turning spatial and temporal binning into post-simulation activities. The approach is suitable for modeling of both interstitial and noninvasive settings (i.e., infinite and semi-infinite geometries). Motivated by an interest in in vivo optical properties of human prostate tissue, we utilize WMC to explore the low albedo regime of time-domain photon migration--a regime where the diffusion approximation of radiative transport theory breaks down, leading to the risk of overestimating both reduced scattering (mu(s)') and absorption (mu(a)). Experimental work supports our findings and establishes the advantages of Monte Carlo-based evaluation.

The time-correlated single photon counting (TCSPC) technique combined with clock oscillator set by the pulsed laser provides a precise measurement of the arrival time of the detected photons with picosecond resolution for a time-scale of hours. If TCSPC is combined with other experimental techniques such as optical spectroscopy and mechanical manipulation, it is possible to coincide the detected fluorescence signal with the changes of the sample properties. High temporal resolution achieved in TCSPC (down to ps) allows us to monitor fast mechanical processes in single molecules. Here we present recent developments in fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) as well as the combination of TCSPC with optical scanning microscopy and mechanical manipulation by means of an atomic-force microscope (AFM).

We describe a time-resolved photon counting imager and demonstrate the utility of this system for photon migration tomography. The remote ultra-low light imager (RULLI) allows visualization of objects within a scattering and absorbing medium.

We used a unique time-resolved photon-counting imager and a pulsed laser to detect and reconstruct small optical perturbations deep within a scattering phantom. This approach has strengths and limitations for noninvasive measurement of neural function.