This 2-day course provides a short review of the basic principles that underlie the operation of the major types of instruments used in the detection and spectroscopy of charged particles, gamma rays, and other forms of ionizing radiation. Examples both of established applications and recent developments are drawn from areas including particle physics, nuclear medicine, and general radiation spectroscopy. Emphasis is on understanding the fundamental processes that govern the operation of radiation detectors, rather than on operational details that are unique to specific commercial instruments. This course does not cover radiation dosimetry or health physics instrumentation. The level of presentation is best suited to those with some prior background in radiation measurements, but can also serve to introduce topics that may be outside their experience base.

A textbook (G.F. Knoll, "Radiation Detection and Measurement", Third Ed., 2000, Wiley) will be included in the course materials.

Glenn Frederick Knoll is Professor Emeritus of Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences at The University of Michigan. He joined the Michigan faculty in 1962, and served as Chairman of the Department of Nuclear Engineering from 1979 to 1990, and as Interim Dean of the College of Engineering in 1995-96. His research interests have centered on radiation measurements, nuclear instrumentation, and radiation imaging. He is author or co-author of over 200 technical publications, 7 patents, and 2 textbooks. In 1999 he was inducted to membership in the National Academy of Engineering. In 2000 he received the highest faculty award from the College of Engineering of the University of Michigan, the Stephen E. Attwood Award. He has served as consultant to over 30 industrial and governmental organizations in technical areas related to radiation measurements. He is a Fellow of IEEE, and in 2000 was a recipient of the Third Millennium Medal of the Society.

Stephen E. Derenzo is Senior Scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Professor-in-Residence in the Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at UC Berkeley. He is deputy head of the Center for Functional Imaging in the Life Sciences Division and has been responsible for the construction of two positron tomographs. He is currently involved in developing advanced detector designs for PET that provide high spatial resolution, depth-of-interaction and time-of-flight. For the past 17 years he has lead a search for new heavy scintillators, found several that are in common use, and is currently exploring fast, efficient room-temperature scintillation from doped direct-gap semiconductors. He has authored or co-authored over 150 technical publications and five patents. He has received two awards from the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society: the Merit Award in 1992 and the Radiation Instrumentation Outstanding Achievement Award in 2001. He became an IEEE Fellow in 2000.

Eugene E. Haller is Professor of Materials Science at UC Berkeley and holds a joint appointment at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory where he heads the Electronic Materials Program. He received his Ph.D. degree in nuclear and applied physics from the University of Basel, Switzerland for surface studies of large volume p-i-n germanium diodes used as gamma-ray detectors. His research interests cover a wide spectrum of semiconductor topics including basic semiconductor physics, thin film and bulk crystal growth and advanced detectors for electromagnetic radiation ranging from the far-infrared to gamma rays. He has authored and co-authored over 800 scientific/technical publications. He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and AAAS, has won an Alexander von Humboldt U.S. Senior Scientist Award in 1986, two Miller Research Professorships in 1990 and 2001, the Max-Planck-Research Prize in 1994 and the James McGroddy Prize for New Materials of the American Physical Society in March 1999. He held visiting professorships at the Max-Planck-Institute for Solid State Research in Stuttgart, at the Imperial College in London, at the DLR (German Aerospace Corporation) in Berlin, at the Paul-Drude-Institute in Berlin and at the University of Münster, Münster, Germany. In 2004 he has been a Distinguished Professor at Keio University in Japan. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the "Journal of Physics and Chemistry of Solids," of "Materials Science Foundations" and of the "Journal of Applied Physics Reviews."

Graham C. Smith is a physicist in the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He received a Ph.D in Physics from Durham University, England in 1974, followed by postdoctoral work in nuclear electronics and detector instrumentation for X-ray Astronomy at Leicester University. In 1982 he joined Brookhaven’s Instrumentation Division to participate in development of high accuracy position-sensitive detectors and electronics, becoming a tenured staff member in 1994. He received Brookhaven’s Research and Development Award in 1996, and the IEEE Long Island Regional Award for Contributions to High Energy Physics in 1998. He has an active research program in development of detectors, particularly gas-based detectors, for ionizing radiation measurement in synchrotron, neutron and particle physics experiments.

This one day course will cover the application of nuclear science generally and radiation detection methods specifically in the area of homeland security. This course is intended primarily for those who have some familiarity with nuclear science and radiation detection and would like to better understand homeland security applications and the science and technology issues unique to them. This course will therefore focus on relevant scientific concepts and technology development and deployment issues. The course will touch on, but not focus on, existing commercial instruments and systems deployed for homeland security applications. Prospective students with a general physics or engineering background but little preparation in the area of nuclear science are welcome but are very strongly encouraged to study the book Radiation Detection and Measurement (3’rd Edition, John Wiley and Sons, New York, 2000) by Professor Glenn Knoll prior to the course.

The course will start by defining what is meant by homeland security and discuss the general areas in which nuclear science expertise and technology comes into play for homeland security applications. A discussion of the operational environments typically encountered along with specific examples will be provided. A generic discussion of threat classes and their associated measurement methods will be given. The course will describe the basic classes of gamma-ray and neutron detection instrumentation considered for deployment and help students understand how decisions are made with respect to their use. The critical topic of “backgrounds” will be described including both natural radiation background and naturally occurring radioactive materials (NORM). Approaches for data collection, analysis, and decision-making for various applied scenarios will be discussed. The role of advanced materials development, particularly the development of room temperature high resolution gamma ray spectrometers, in aiding homeland security applications will be described. The application of a variety of advanced radiation detection methods including imaging, collimation, pulse shape discrimination, and alternative signatures will be covered. Active methods and their role in homeland security will be described.

Dr. Anthony Peurrung has a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and a Ph.D. degree in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley. His research has entailed contributions to a variety of fields within fundamental and applied physics including fluid mechanics, plasma physics, medical physics, separations science, environmental remediation, nuclear physics, and radiation detection methods and applications. Since 1994, Anthony has worked in the National Security Directorate of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory as a staff scientist, technical group manager, and most recently as director of the Physical and Chemical Sciences Division. His research interests include such topics as special nuclear material detection and characterization and fundamental advances in the areas of neutron detection and spectrometry. Anthony is a long standing member of the DOE’s Radiation Detection Panel and held the senior non-federal leadership role representing the DOE laboratory complex during the standup of DHS’s radiological/nuclear countermeasures science and technology program.

Dr. Eric Smith is a Senior Scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) working in applied radiation detection for homeland and national security. He is the technical lead for PNNL’s program in Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology, Radiological and Nuclear Countermeasures, and supports the US Customs and Border Protection’s radioactive material interdiction program. Eric also serves as PNNL’s representative to DOE’s Nonproliferation Research and Engineering Radiation Detection Panel, and is the principal investigator on several DOE research projects, specifically in novel radiation sensors, trace radionuclide detection methods, and spent fuel assay. As the Deputy Technical Lead for PNNL’s Radiation Detection and Analysis Laboratories, Eric helps to coordinate the Lab’s nuclear science capabilities for various programmatic areas. Prior to joining PNNL, he was a staff member at Argonne National Laboratory working in the areas of nondestructive assay and waste characterization. Eric received a B.S. in Nuclear Engineering from Oregon State University, and his M.S. and Ph.D. in Nuclear and Radiological Sciences from the University of Michigan.

This one-day course is intended to introduce physicists and detector specialists to the fundamentals of integrated circuit front end design. The class begins with a discussion of low-noise signal processing and semiconductor devices and then delves into the details of implementing practical circuits in modern CMOS technology. A basic knowledge of detectors and electronics is assumed.

Course Outline

1. Pulse Processing Fundamentals
- Signal formation in detectors
- Noise and gain mechanisms
- Pulse processing for amplitude and timing extraction

2. Semiconductor Technology for Integrated Circuit Front Ends
- Operation and characteristics of MOS and bipolar transistors
- Sub-micron CMOS and BICMOS technology
- Feature size scaling
- Radiation effects and reliability
- Mixed-signal circuits

3. Analog circuit design
- The IC design process and CAD tools
- Foundry access, multiproject services
- Building blocks for the analog channel: charge-sensitive and pulse-shaping amplifiers, baseline stabilizers, peak detectors, track/hold, multiplexers, output stages
- Analog-to-digital and time-to-digital converters (ADC and TDC)

4. Packaging and Interconnect

5. Application examples

Course registration fee includes lunch and refreshments, a copy of the lecture notes, and a certificate of completion.

Veljko Radeka, Senior Scientist and Head of Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National laboratory. His interests have been in scientific instruments, radiation detectors, noise and signal processing, and low noise electronics. He authored or co-authored about 170 publications. He is a Life Fellow of IEEE and a Fellow of APS.

Paul O’Connor is associate Head of the Instrumentation Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory. He has a Ph.D. degree in solid-state physics from Brown University and worked from 1980-1990 at AT&T Bell Laboratories prior to joining BNL. His research interests are in the field of instrumentation systems for radiation detection, particularly low noise analog CMOS front-end circuits. He is author and co-author of about 50 publications and has been an IEEE member since 1980.

Giovanni Anelli was born in Piacenza (Italy) in 1970. He received the M.S. degree in electronic engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy) in 1997 and the Ph.D. degree in electronic engineering (with highest honors) from the Polytechnic of Grenoble (France) in 2000. His Ph.D. thesis research work was on techniques to design radiation tolerant integrated circuits in deep submicron CMOS technologies, an approach which is now employed by the large majority of the integrated circuits of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN. Dr. Anelli has been working from October 1995 to December 1996 and from July 1998 in the Microelectronics Group of CERN. His research interests deal with radiation effects on submicron CMOS technologies and design of low-noise low-power analog and mixed signal VLSI circuits for High-Energy Physics applications. Dr. Anelli is author and co-author of more than 40 publications in international journals and international conference proceedings. Dr. Anelli is a member of the IEEE from 1998 and is member of the Circuits and Systems, Solid-State Circuits, Electron Devices and Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Societies.

 

This full-day course is intended to introduce the fundamentals of tomographic imaging with ionizing radiation to engineers and physicists that have no experience in this field. The class begins with an introduction to the various technologies used to obtain medical images and the applications for which they are used. Following brief overviews of the principles of optical, ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging, the focus then shifts to in-depth descriptions of individual techniques that utilize ionizing radiation. The fundamentals of tomographic reconstruction are presented, and this is followed by discussions of the medical imaging modalities of X-ray CT, single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and positron emission tomography (PET). Emphasis is placed on the underlying physical principles, method of image formation, instrument design, performance criteria, and both clinical and pre-clinical applications.

No prior knowledge of medical imaging techniques or computed tomography is assumed; however, the course does assume an understanding of physics, elementary radiation detection and measurement techniques, and a basic understanding of Fourier analysis.

Todd Peterson is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences and the Department of Physics at Vanderbilt University and serves as the Director of Nuclear Imaging for the Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science. After receiving his Ph.D. from Indiana University in the field of experimental nuclear physics, he conducted postdoctoral research under the guidance of Dr. Harrison Barrett at the Center for Gamma-Ray Imaging at the University of Arizona. A major focus of his research has been the application of semiconductor detectors to small-animal SPECT. His current research also includes imaging studies using microPET and microCT.

Yuan-Chuan Tai, Washington University in St. Louis. Tai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Radiology. His primary research focus is on the development of high resolution PET systems for human and animal applications.

Jiang Hsieh, a Chief Scientist in the Applied Science Laboratory of GE Healthcare Technologies. He has over 20 years of experience on medical imaging. His primary research interests include pre-processing, image reconstruction, post-processing, and advanced clinical applications of x-ray CT. His research interests also cover various aspects of SPECT imaging.
 

Molecular Imaging, defined as imaging of molecular markers and their interactions inside living organisms, has attracted significant level of attention in recent years. Especially at the preclinical level, molecular imaging holds the promise to elucidate disease pathways as well as physiological processes that might lead to improved diagnostics and therapeutics. This course will introduce the attendees to (1) the identification of molecular markers, (2) strategies and limitations of labeling methodologies and (3) non-invasive imaging instrumentation technologies.

Special focus will be given to preclinical technologies like high resolution small animal PET and SPECT, optical bioluminescence and x-ray microCT imaging.

Course outline:

The first session will introduce attendees to elements of basic molecular biology, cell metabolism and cell signaling pathways. It will focus on the identification of unique features of cell biology that can possibly be used with imaging methods.

The second session will discuss the use of radiopharmaceuticals, bioluminescence optical signaling probes and x-ray contrast agents, with emphasis on their inherent characteristics of signal generation, signal propagation in tissues and background levels.

The third session will discuss the instrumentation technology for the design of small animal PET/SPECT, bioluminescence and x-ray CT imaging systems, with emphasis on the issue of sensitivity and spatial resolution limits.

Dr. Chatziioannou is currently with the faculty at the Department of Medical & Molecular Pharmacology, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. He also is a member of the Crump Institute for Molecular Imaging and the Institute for Molecular Medicine, UCLA DOE Lab. He received his B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Athens, Greece and his Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Physics from the University of California at Los Angeles. After the completion of his degree, he joined the research group of Dr. Simon Cherry on the development of the high-resolution microPET technology. His current research interests are in the development of instrumentation and technology for dedicated small animal imaging systems. He is especially interested in multimodality approaches for quantitative imaging including x-ray micro computed tomography, microPET and optical imaging. Dr. Chatziioannou has authored or coauthored more than 40 journal articles, reviews and book chapters. In addition, he has been invited to speak at many national and international symposia.

Dr. George Alexandrakis received his undergraduate degree in Physics from Oxford University and obtained both his Masters’ and PhD degrees from McMaster University, Canada. He performed his doctoral work in the area of near infrared reflectance imaging under the supervision of Prof. Michael Patterson. Since his graduation he has been a postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital / Harvard Medical School and more recently at UCLA. His research time in Prof. Rakesh Jain’s lab in Boston was invested in developing quantitative intravital microscopy methodologies for the analysis of barriers to drug delivery in tumor-bearing mice. His present research interests in Prof. Arion Chatziioannou’s lab at UCLA are focused on computational feasibility studies of bioluminescence tomography, as part of developing a combined optical/PET mouse imaging system. He is also pursuing some training in clinical PET/CT methodologies.
 

Statistical methods for image reconstruction has attracted growing interests with the advances in instrumentation, computer technologies, fast reconstruction algorithms, and emerging biomedical applications demanding for high-resolution images. The recent commercial adoption of iterative algorithms in clinical and animal scanners also facilities its wide spread. This course will provide an orderly overview of statistical reconstruction methods with applications to PET, SPECT, and X-ray CT. The course will start with fundamental issues of statistical reconstruction, including the choice of objective functions, regularization, and optimization algorithms, and how each affects the image quality. It will then covers the specific topics in modeling photon transport in PET, SPECT, X-ray CT and the compensation of the imperfectness in different imaging systems. In all cases, numerous examples will be presented.

Prerequisite knowledge includes basics knowledge of the physics of medical imaging systems, statistics, and elementary linear algebra.

Jinyi Qi received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1998. Since 1999 he has been with the Department of Functional Imaging at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of California, Davis, and a Faculty Scientist in the Department of Functional Imaging at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. His research interests include statistical image reconstruction, image quality evaluation, system modeling and optimization.

Freek Beekman (physicist, Ph.D.'95, associate professor at the Image Science Institute, Utrecht University), authored more than 40 journal peer reviewed journal papers, several book chapters and patent applications. His research interests include image reconstruction (in particular emission CT and X-ray CT), Monte Carlo and analytic modelling, and instrumentation.

Bruno De Man received the BSEE and MSEE degree from the University of Leuven in 1995. From 1995 to 2001 he was a research assistant at the University of Leuven, where he earned a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Since 2001 he has been an researcher at the CT Systems and Applications Laboratory at GE Global Research, and since 2004 he has been project leader for CT reconstruction. He is currently an Associate Editor for Medical Physics. His research interests include CT physics, CT iterative reconstruction, and CT cone-beam reconstruction.