Accurate modeling of event-by-event backprojection for a germanium semiconductor Compton camera for system response evaluation in the LM-ML-EM image reconstruction method

We develop an image reconstruction method, considering the physical phenomenon in the measurement process of a Compton camera. The image quality is improved by applying an accurate error model of the Compton scattering angle. The angular error has two properties: an error distribution function specific to the detector material and the variation of its function parameters, depending on each measurement event. We incorporate these factors into the backprojection of the list-mode maximum-likelihood expectation-maximization method as the system response function. We apply our image reconstruction method to simulated data assumed to be measured by a Ge-semiconductor Compton camera GREI, and the imaging data of a tumor-bearing live mouse obtained using GREI. This method is evaluated by comparing an image with variable angular error with that having fixed angular error. The consideration of the variable angle estimation error improves the spatial resolution and reduces image roughness. (C) 2018 The Japan Society of Applied Physics