Development of a procedure for hyper-pure germanium detector response calibration combining experimental measurements with Monte Carlo simulations

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Lorenzo Brualla Barbera
• Subject Area: Nuclear and Elementary Particle Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Relativity, Fields
• Term: from 2011 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 200971961

Knowledge of the efficiency curve of hyper-pure germanium (HPGe) detectors is essential for a broadrange of applications. However, its accurate determination requires lengthy and costly experiments.Although there have been some attempts in the past to produce a method based on Monte Carlosimulations of the detector to make less difficult to obtain the efficiency curve, none of them hasreached accuracies better than 5%. During the proposed project we intend to perform a systematicstudy of all major parameters that determine the agreement between an experimental and a simulated efficiency curve. We shall take into account the dimensions of the crystal, the modelling of dead layers, the incomplete charge collection, the electric field in the detector and charge carrier traps. The objective is to produce a method for determining the efficiency curve in which not only the agreement of the full energy peak is sought, but also of the single and double escape peaks and the continuum part of the spectrum.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Brazil
• Partner Organisation: Fundaçao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Sao Paulo - FAPESP
• Participating Persons: Dr. Nora Lia Maidana; Professor Dr. Vito Roberto Vanin