Speaker
Description
PETALO (Positron Emission Tof Apparatus with Liquid xenOn) is a novel concept for positron emission tomography scanners, which uses liquid xenon as a scintillation medium and silicon photomultipliers as a readout. The large scintillation yield and the fast scintillation time of liquid xenon makes it an excellent candidate for PET scanners with Time-of-Flight measurements. In this talk I will review the status of the PETALO project, which is now commissioning the first prototype, devoted to demonstrate the potential of the concept, measuring the energy and time resolution and to test technical solutions for a complete ring. The prototype consists in an aluminum box filled with liquid xenon, with two arrays of SiPMs on opposite sides facing the xenon. A beta+ emitter source generating 511-keV pairs of gammas is placed in a central port and the SiPMs record the scintillation light produced by the gamma interactions, allowing for the reconstruction of the position, the energy and the time of the interactions. Finally, I will discuss the potential of a total-body PET based on this technology.
