The Fano factor of an integer-valued random variable is defined as the ratio of its variance to its mean. Correlation between the outputs of two photomultiplier tubes on opposite faces of a scintillation crystal was used to estimate the Fano factor of photoelectrons and scintillation photons. Correlations between the integrals of the detector outputs were used to estimate the photoelectron and photon Fano factor for YAP:Ce, SrI2:Eu and CsI:Na scintillator crystals. At 662 keV, SrI2:Eu was found to be sub-Poisson, while CsI:Na and YAP:Ce were found to be super-Poisson. An experiment setup inspired from the Hanbury Brown and Twiss experiment was used to measure the correlations as a function of time between the outputs of two photomultiplier tubes looking at the same scintillation event. A model of the scintillation and the detection processes was used to generate simulated detector outputs as a function of time for different values of Fano factor. The simulated outputs from the model for different Fano factors was compared to the experimentally measured detector outputs to estimate the Fano factor of the scintillation photons for YAP:Ce, LaBr3:Ce scintillator crystals. At 662 keV, LaBr3:Ce was found to be sub-Poisson, while YAP:Ce was found to be close to Poisson.

Image intensifiers combined with columnar scintillators have found application in x-ray and gamma-ray, biomedical imaging and other fields. In scintillator imaging, hundreds or thousands of optical photons can illuminate the faceplate of the image intensifier in a small area, essentially simultaneously. This is a situation not found in the typical design application for an image intensifier, night vision or low-light-level imaging. Microchannel plates (MCPs) are known to exhibit gain saturation that could result in non-linear signal response in scintillator imaging, limiting quantitative measurement capabilities. A calibrated LED photon source was developed that can provide a known average number of photons per unit area in a small spot size, similar to that seen due to a gamma-ray interaction in a BazookaSPECT imager. A BazookaSPECT imager is composed of a columnar scintillator and an image intensifier, with output light optically imaged onto a CCD camera. The calibrated source was used to investigate gain-saturation effects for two Proxivision, GmbH image intensifiers, a single-stage BV 2583 EZ and a two stage BV 2583 QZ-V 100N in a BazookaSPECT imaging configuration. No gain saturation was found for the single-stage image intensifier up to more than 100 optical photons per microchannel, but significant gain-saturation non-linearities were measured in the two-stage image intensifier at high gains for >12 optical photons per microchannel. Implications for scintillator imaging using such systems are discussed.

Testing of the gamma ray imaging system will continue at the High Intensity Gamma Source (HIGS) at Duke University. Previous testing at OMEGA gave useful information but at much lower photon energies. Utilizing HIGS 10 8 gammas/s and its tight beam we will be able to characterize the system in the energy regime that it was designed for namely 4.44 MeV. HIGS offers the ability to tune the beam's energy from 1--20 MeV by way of controlling the inverse Compton scattering off of a relativistic electron beam. With this feature characterization in a range of energies will be possible. Targets were made using a ray--tracing program that replicates a 12--micron ideal pinhole and a 20 cm long 300--micron gold penumbra aperture. The latter will require reconstruction of the coded images.