The experimental results presented in this study demonstrate the performance of a prototype Positron Emission Tomography system utilising planar HPGe detector technology. The experimental measurements undertaken provide evidence of the feasibility of such a system for small animal imaging. It has been shown how the use of digital Pulse Shape Analysis techniques may be employed in order to improve the achievable image quality. By performing high precision scans of one the SmartPET HPGe detectors with finely collimated gamma-ray beams at a range of energies the performance and response of the detector as a function of gamma-ray interaction position has been quantified. This analysis has facilitated the development of parametric Pulse Shape Analysis techniques and algorithms for the correction of imperfections in detector response. These algorithms have then been applied to data from PET imaging measurements using both SmartPET detectors in conjunction with the specially designed rotating gantry. A number of point sources have been imaged and it has been shown how, when using simple PSA approaches, the nature of an event has direct implications for the quality of the resulting image. Over 60% of coincident events from 511keV gamma rays have been processed in imaging these point sources, increasing the imaging sensitivity by a factor of three in comparison to previous work. The absolute detection sensitivity of the SmartPET system has been found to be 0.99%. The SmartPET system has been used to image distributed sources for the first time. A 22Na line source was imaged in a number of different orientations and reconstructed with a spatial resolution approaching the fundamental limitations imposed by gamma-ray non-colinearity and positron range blurring. Increasingly complex source distributions have been imaged, demonstrating the ability of the system to resolve multiple features with fine spatial resolution. These measurements then allowed the current limitations of the system to be identified. Supplied by The British Library - 'The world's knowledge'