Impact of fano factor on position and energy estimation in scintillation detectors

Vaibhav Bora, Harrison H. Barrett, Abhinav K. Jha, Eric Clarkson

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

The Fano factor for an integer-valued random variable is defined as the ratio of its variance to its mean. Light from various scintillation crystals has been reported to have Fano factors from sub-Poisson (Fano factor < 1), Poisson (Fano factor = 1) to super-Poisson (Fano factor > 1). For a given mean, a smaller Fano factor implies a smaller variance and thus less noise. We investigate if lower noise in the scintillation light results in better spatial and energy resolution in a scintillation imaging detector. The impact of Fano factor on estimation of position of interaction and energy deposited in simple gamma-camera geometries is estimated by calculating the Cramér-Rao bound. The calculated Cramér-Rao bound is quantitatively validated by estimating the variance of the maximum likelihood estimator.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationPenetrating Radiation Systems and Applications XIV
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
Externally publishedYes
EventPenetrating Radiation Systems and Applications XIV - San Diego, CA, United States
Duration: Aug 28 2013Aug 28 2013

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8854
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Other

OtherPenetrating Radiation Systems and Applications XIV
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CitySan Diego, CA
Period8/28/138/28/13

Keywords

  • Energy Estimation
  • Fano factor
  • Position Estimation
  • Scintillators

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Computer Science Applications
  • Applied Mathematics
  • Electrical and Electronic Engineering

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