Monolithic LaBr3:Ce crystals on silicon photomultiplier arrays for time-of-flight positron emission tomography

Positron emission tomography detectors based on monolithic scintillation crystals exhibit good spatial and energy resolution, intrinsically provide depth-of-interaction information, have high γ-photon capture efficiency, and may reduce the manufacturing costs compared to pixelated crystal arrays. Here, we present the characterization of a detector consisting of a 18.0 mm×16.2 mm×10.0 mm monolithic LaBr3:5%Ce scintillator directly coupled to a 4×4 array of silicon photomultipliers. An energy resolution of 6.4% full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) was obtained. The point-spread-function (PSF) was determined for different regions of the detector. The full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) of the PSF was measured to be