Design of a small laboratory Compton camera for the imaging of positron emitters

A small laboratory prototype has been designed for the Compton imaging of annihilation photons produced from positron emitters. Considerations on the design of the scatter collimator are presented and the system configuration is described. The system features a stack of four AC coupled, double-sided silicon strip detectors (6/spl times/6 cm/sup 2/ area, 500 /spl mu/m thickness, 470 /spl mu/m strip pitch, 128 channels/side) in a double Compton configuration and externally triggered readout mode. Signal readout is obtained by bonding two 128-channel low-noise APV6 chips to each detector. Custom electronics have been developed for the chip readout. The system is currently being assembled. The estimated angular resolution of the camera is approximately 4 degrees. High sensitivity could be achieved by extending the number of stack elements and by improving the design of the trigger detector, which presently consists of a small area germanium crystal.