A group of us from The University of Chicago, Argonne, Fermilab and Berkeley are interested
in the development of large-area systems to measure the time-of-arrival of
relativistic particles with (ultimately) 1 pico-second resolution, and for
signals typical of Positron-Emission Tomography (PET), a resolution of 30
pico-seconds (sigma on one channel). These are respectively a factor of 100 and 20
better than the present state-of-the-art. This would involve development in a number
of intellectually challenging areas: three-dimensional modeling of photo-optical devices,
the design and construction of fast, economical, low-power electronics,
the `end-to-end' (i.e. complete) simulation of large systems, real-time image processing
and reconstruction, and the optimization of large detector and analysis systems for
medical imaging. In each of these areas there is immense room for creative and
innovative thinking, as the underlying technologies have moved faster than
the applications. We collectively are an interdisciplinary (High Energy Physics,
Radiology, and Electrical Engineering) group working on these problems, and
it's interesting and rewarding to cross the knowledge bases of different
intellectual disciplines. We welcome inquiries and, even better, help.