(BZA)2PbBr4: A potential scintillator for photon-counting computed tomography detectors
J. Jasper van Blaaderen, Stefan van der Sar, Djulia Onggo, Md Abdul Kuddus Sheikh, Dennis R. Schaart, Muhammad Danang Birowosuto, P. Dorenbos
Abstract
Due to recent development in detector technology, photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) has become a rapidly emerging medical imaging technology. Current PCCT systems rely on the direct conversion of X-ray photons into charge pulses, using CdTe, CZT, or Si semiconductor detectors. Indirect detection using ultrafast scintillators coupled to silicon photomultipliers (SiPM) offers a potentially more straightforward and cost-effective alternative. In this work a new 2D perovskite scintillator, benzylamonium lead bromide (BZA)2PbBr4, is experimentally characterised as function of temperature. The material exhibits a 4.2 ns decay time under X-ray excitation at room temperature and a light yield of 3700 photons/MeV. The simulation tool developed by Van der Sar et al. was used to model the pulse trains produced by a SiPM-based (BZA)2PbBr4 detector. The fast decay time of (BZA)2PbBr4 results in outstanding count-rate performance as well as very low statistical fluctuations in the simulated pulses. These features of (BZA)2PbBr4, combined with its cost-effective synthesis make (BZA)2PbBr4 very promising for PCCT.