The lower timing resolution bound for scintillators with non-negligible optical photon transport time in time-of-flight PET

In this work, a method is presented that can calculate the lower bound of the timing resolution for large scintillation crystals with non-negligible photon transport. Hereby, the timing resolution bound can directly be calculated from Monte Carlo generated arrival times of the scintillation photons. This method extends timing resolution bound calculations based on analytical equations, as crystal geometries can be evaluated that do not have closed form solutions of arrival time distributions. The timing resolution bounds are calculated for an exemplary 3 mm × 3 mm × 20 mm LYSO crystal geometry, with scintillation centers exponentially spread along the crystal length as well as with scintillation centers at fixed distances from the photosensor. Pulse shape simulations further show that analog photosensors intrinsically operate near the timing resolution bound, which can be attributed to the finite single photoelectron pulse rise time. (paper)