Beta Camera: Development and applications

Abstract: A new detector for on-line digital detection of charged particles (beta-particles, conversion electrons and alpha-particles) from thin samples for rapid autoradiography has been developed; the Beta Camera. The device consists of a photon-sensitive detector (image photon detector, IPD); the main component of which is a microchannel plate. The sample to be measured is mounted in close contact to a thin scintillator on the IPD. Electrons are generated from the photocathode and the electron avalanche through the microchannel plate is registered by a resistive anode. The results are stored in an image memory for visual studies and further processing. The detector has a linear response making quantification easy. Results show that the Beta Camera can image radionuclide distributions with a spatial resolution of 500 µm, has good homogeneity and time resolution, and better sensitivy than film autoradiography. Biomedical samples have been imaged with the Beta Camera in several applications in real time. The open face of the detector (the scintillator) gives considerable freedom allowing a wide range of applications. In this thesis various examples of the use of the Beta Camera are given, such as imaging of tumours, normal tissues and living cells (nerves), as well as alpha-emitting environmental samples. The Beta Camera developed in this work has shown to provide a complement to ordinary filmautoradiography, but with fast, real-time and digital registration of radionuclide distributions.