Studies of interactions within silicon and germanium detectors

Abstract

Interactions of particles, gamma rays and X-rays in silicon and germanium solid state detectors have been investigated to demonstrate the varied applicability and ease of operation of these detectors. These measurements included the calibration of intrinsic response properties of several detectors and the study of specific nuclear reactions occurring inside these detectors. The spatial response characteristics and detection efficiency of an intrinsic germanium detector were measured as a function of energy (121-1 408 keV). Two germanium lifetimes of detectors were used both as target and detector to determine the isomeric 0 2 + 691 keV level of 72 Ge using the auto coincidence method, in which the excitation and de-excitation signals were separated electronically to generate a decay curve. Silicon surface barrier detectors were used to calibrate 14 MeV neutron fluxes by studying yields from Si(n,particle) reactions. depths were studied to determine edge effects. Detectors of different Finally the physical and geometric properties of four X-ray detectors were measured, including characteristic spatial dependence of charge collection efficiency.