Patent ID: 9040924
Filing Date: 2015-05-26
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
1. A scintillation crystal-type radiation detector comprising: a transparent scintillator block formed from a scintillation material that is configured to interact with a high-energy photon in a scintillation event that releases a large number of low-energy photons; a plurality of photodetectors positioned to receive at least some of the low-energy photons from the scintillation event and to produce corresponding output signals; and a computer system configured to receive the output signals from the plurality of photodetectors and to calculate the location of the scintillation event within the scintillator block; wherein the scintillator block includes a plurality of internal defects created in the scintillator block using subsurface laser engraving, and wherein the plurality of internal defects is configured to alter the path of at least some of the large number of low-energy photons within the scintillator block, and wherein the scintillator block comprises at least one depth-of-interaction crystal element comprising a first portion having one of the plurality of photodetectors at a first end of the crystal element and a second portion having a different one of the plurality of photodetectors at the first end of the crystal element, wherein the plurality of internal defects are disposed along a transverse plane that delineates the first portion from the second portion, and wherein the plurality of internal defects near the first end of the crystal element continuously decrease in density away from the first end of the crystal element.