SBIR Phase I: New Sensors for Biological Instrumentation

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将承担一项新材料的研究，这些新材料将被用作核医学仪器（PET和SPECT成像）中的闪烁探测器。工作将从已知是良好闪烁体的稀土卤化物成分开始，并考虑可能优化其性能的相关成分。通过结合两种具有相似物理特性（如晶体结构、密度和晶格参数）的材料，可以创建具有工程带隙的组合物。这种类型的工作通常见于半导体，但很少用于此类应用。带隙是闪烁体的一个重要特性，因为它直接影响光输出。该项目将研究如何通过带隙工程来修改已知的闪烁体，从而获得更理想的性能。计划进行快速、连续的测量。来自劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室的一个团队将协助这项工作，他们在这个有前途的领域拥有丰富的经验。这项工作在探测器技术方面的一个潜在方面是，因为它正在开发工具，这项工作最终将应用于许多领域。为医学开发的闪烁体可以很容易地造福于科学研究；可以通过产品评价技术提高工业生产率；并满足国家日益增长的安全需求。通过为医学创造更好的工具，国家受益于更准确的医学图像，从而实现更早的诊断和更好的治疗跟踪。同样适用于其他领域，提高辐射探测器的质量通过更高的精度导致更快的测量，更大的覆盖范围，允许新的成像应用，并通过使探测器更加通用而增加对新市场的渗透。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will undertake a study of new materials that will find application as scintillation detectors in nuclear medicine instrumentation (PET and SPECT imaging). Work will progress by starting with rare earth halide compositions that are known to be good scintillators and consider related compositions that can possibly optimize their performance. By combining the two materials with similar physical properties (such as crystal structure, density and lattice parameters) it is possible to create compositions that have an engineered bandgap. Work of this type is commonly seen with semiconductors but rarely utilized for an application such as this. Bandgap is a critical scintillator property because of how it directly affects light output. This project will examine how known scintillators can be modified, through bandgap engineering, such that more desirable properties can be obtained. Rapid, successive measurements are planned. Aiding in the effort will be a team from Lawrence Berkeley National Lab with extensive experience in this promising field.An underlying aspect of this work in detector technology is that because it is developing tools, the work will ultimately be applied to many fields. Scintillators developed for medicine can readily benefit scientific research; can increase industrial productivity via product evaluation Technologies; and serve the Nation's growing security needs. By creating better tools for medicine, the Nation benefits from more accurate medical images, leading to earlier diagnosis and better tracking of treatments. Similarly applied to other fields, improving the quality of radiation detectors leads to faster measurements through greater accuracy, larger coverage areas that allow for new imaging applications, and increased penetration into new markets by making the detectors more versatile.