First results from the BNL plant imaging system

The BNL PET Imaging group has developed PET detector technology that can be used in many different configurations. The same technology has been adapted to a configuration with a larger diameter to accommodate plants up to a meter in height. The scanner is mounted on a computer controlled motorized support that can be moved up and down over 50 cm which allows for scanning the plants over nearly the entire length so that activity administered to the leaves can be followed as it migrates down the plant length to the roots. The larger field of view puts new demands on the image reconstruction processes since the vertical position of the scanner in relationship to the plant must be incorporated into the final image analysis. The details of the system construction will be described and preliminary imaging results presented.