Hybrid Semiconductor Pixel Detectors for Low- and Medium-Energy X- and Gamma-Ray Single Photon Imaging Using the Medipix Read-Out Chip

After a brief description of microstrip and pixel detectors for radiation imaging with X-rays and gamma-rays, the functionality, physical response, and imaging performance of the hybrid pixel detectors based on the Medipix1 photon counting chip for such diverse imaging applications such as digital mammography, synchrotron X-ray radiation, nuclear medicine, and so on are described. It is concluded that such hybrid pixel detectors, originated from high-energy physics, have great potential for specific scientific and industrial X- and gamma-ray imaging applications and that the fabrication of large detector arrays or mosaic of detectors for large area imaging is still the main open problem with hybrid detectors.