Sensitivity Encoded Silicon Photomultipliers (SeSPs): a novel detector design for uniform crystal identification

In this paper, we present a novel SiPM detector design invented by Philips in which we encode the sensitivity of the SiPM pixels. The new detector array is called SeSP (Sensitivity encoded Silicon Photomultiplier). In this concept, the crystal is directly coupled to a structured detector array and identified via a unique ratio of the SeSP channels. Thus, n crystals could be identified using k<n SeSP channel (n-k encoding), which leads to a reduction of readout channels to k. Beyond a detailed SeSP concept description, we will present preliminary measurements (energy resolution and crystal identification capability) on a SiPM array readout following the SeSP architecture. Real SeSP detectors have been recently produced at FBK and tests are under way.