ABSTRACT
Miniaturized imaging devices for gamma-radiation have become increasingly important in medical and preclinical applications throughout the last decade. They commonly consist of two main parts: the radiation sensor and an collimator. The technical feasibility of compact gamma-imaging devices is strongly entangled with the development of position-sensitive photomultiplier tubes (PSPMTs). Second-generation PSPMTs such as the Hamamatsu R7600-C12 were of multianode type; however, they suffered from significant dead space at the borders of the photocathode. The Hamamatsu H8500 multianode series has become by far the most popular model. For the H8500 PSPMT with 8 × 8 output channels, basically three different readout schemes have been applied. The Hamamatsu H8500 series PSPMTs have been applied in the large majority of published examples. With readout electronics of similar structure, the sensors are scalable from single photomultipliers to arrays with field of view up to 150 mm in width.
