LaBr3:Ce crystal: The latest advance for scintillation cameras

Recent availability of LaBr3:Ce crystal is attracting researchers for the development of new advanced SPECT e PET systems. The crystal shows excellent energy resolution values good radiation absorption properties and speed. At present, LaBr3:Ce crystal is available with continuous shape covering 5 x 5 cm(2) area with a thickness up to 1 in. With the aim of analysing the imaging performances of LaBr3:Ce for Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPET), we tested three continuous crystals with the same detection area of 5 x 5 cm2 and various thicknesses ranging between 4 and 10 mm. Three small scintillation cameras were assembled by coupling LaBr3:Ce crystal to Hamamatsu H8500 Flat panel PMT. The results show very good imaging performances for single photon emission application with superior energy and spatial resolution up 7.5% and 0.9 mm, respectively, and a detection efficiency up to 95% at 140 keV photon energy.