Patent ID: 8946656
Filing Date: 2015-02-03
Classification: A61B,G01T

Abstract:
1. An apparatus for imaging comprising: a source of emitted photons having an energy of at least 1 keV; a plurality of detectors disposed relative to the source to receive the emitted photons, the emitted photons interacting with said detectors to cause ionization and/or excitation in said detectors, wherein an optical property of said detectors is altered in response to the ionization and/or excitation produced from the emitted photons; a source of reference light; a source of probing light disposed relative to each of said detectors to probe said detectors, wherein said detectors output the probing light, wherein the output light is modulated in response to the altered optical property; a comparator for comparing the reference light and the probing light for each of said detectors, said comparator providing an output pulse based on a change between the reference light and the probing light; and a receiver for receiving the one or more output pulses from said comparator and for each output pulse, determining whether the emitted photon interacted with the detector, including an identification of a particular detector hit, and determining at least one of an energy or time of the emitted photon; said receiver being configured to detect an emitted pair of photons based on receiving a pair of output pulses and to determine an event location from said detected emitted pair of photons.