Adaptation of filtered back-projection to compton imaging with non-uniform azimuthal geometry

For Compton image reconstruction, analytic reconstruction methods such as filtered backprojection have been used for real-time imaging. The conventional filtered back-projection method assumes a uniformly distributed azimuthal response in the detector system. In this study, we applied filtered back-projection to the experimental data from detector systems with limited azimuthal angle coverage ranges and estimated the limitations of the analytic reconstruction methods when applied to these systems. For the system with a uniform azimuthal response, the images reconstructed by using filtered back-projection showed better angular resolutions than the images obtained by using simple back-projection did. However, when filtered back-projection was applied to reconstruct Compton images based on measurements performed by using Compton cameras with limited response geometries, the reconstructed images exhibited artifacts caused by the geometrical limitations. Our proposed method employs the Compton camera’s rotation to overcome the angular response limitations; when the rotation method was applied in this study, the artifacts in the reconstructed images caused by angular response limitations were minimized. With this method, filtered back-projection can be applied to reconstruct real-time Compton images even when the radiation measurements are performed by using Compton cameras with non-uniform azimuthal response geometries.