A 1200 ELEMENT DETECTOR SYSTEM FOR SYNCHROTRON-BASED CORONARY ANGIOGRAPHY

A 1200 channel Si(Li) detector system has been developed for transvenous coronary angiography experiments using synchrotron radiation. It is part of the synchrotron medical imaging facility at the National Synchrotron Light Source. The detector is made from a single crystal of lithium-drifted silicon with an active area 150 mm long x 11 mm high x 5 mm thick. The elements are arranged in two parallel rows of 600 elements with a center-to-center spacing of 0.25 mm. All 1200 elements are read out simultaneously every 4 ms. An Intel 80486 based computer with a high speed digital signal processing interface is used to control the beamline hardware and to acquire a series of images. The signal-to-noise, linearity and resolution of the system have been measured. Human images have been taken with this system.