Handy Compton camera using 3D position-sensitive scintillators coupled with large-area monolithic MPPC arrays

The release of radioactive isotopes (mainly 137Cs, 134Cs and 131I) from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant remains a serious problem in Japan. To help identify radiation hotspots and ensure effective decontamination operation, we are developing a novel Compton camera weighting only 1kg and measuring just ∼10cm2 in size. Despite its compactness, the camera realizes a wide 180° field of vision with a sensitivity about 50 times superior to other cameras being tested in Fukushima. We expect that a hotspot producing a 5μSv/h dose at a distance of 3m can be imaged every 10s, with angular resolution better than 10° (FWHM). The 3D position-sensitive scintillators and thin monolithic MPPC arrays are the key technologies developed here. By measuring the pulse-height ratio of MPPC-arrays coupled at both ends of a Ce:GAGG scintillator block, the depth of interaction (DOI) is obtained for incident gamma rays as well as the usual 2D positions, with accuracy better than 2mm. By using two identical 10mm cubic Ce:GAGG scintillators as a scatterer and an absorber, we confirmed that the 3D configuration works well as a high-resolution gamma camera, and also works as spectrometer achieving typical energy resolution of 9.8% (FWHM) for 662keV gamma rays. We present the current status of the prototype camera (weighting 1.5kg and measuring 8.5×14×16cm3 in size) being fabricated by Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. Although the camera still operates in non-DOI mode, angular resolution as high as 14° (FWHM) was achieved with an integration time of 30s for the assumed hotspot described above.