Laboratory tests and simulations of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique for background reduction in germanium gamma-ray detectors

Said A. Slassi-Sennou; Steven E. Boggs; Bryon Philhour; Robert W. Campbell; Paul T. Feffer; Robert P. Lin; Steven McBride; Henry J. Primbsch; Chris P. Cork; Fred S. Goulding; Paul N. Luke; Norman W. Madden; Don F. Malone; Richard H. Pehl

doi:10.1117/12.254020

18 October 1996 Laboratory tests and simulations of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique for background reduction in germanium gamma-ray detectors

Said A. Slassi-Sennou, Steven E. Boggs, Bryon Philhour, Robert W. Campbell, Paul T. Feffer, Robert P. Lin, Steven McBride, Henry J. Primbsch, Chris P. Cork, Fred S. Goulding, Paul N. Luke, Norman W. Madden, Don F. Malone, Richard H. Pehl

Author Affiliations +

Proceedings Volume 2806, Gamma-Ray and Cosmic-Ray Detectors, Techniques, and Missions; (1996) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254020
Event: SPIE's 1996 International Symposium on Optical Science, Engineering, and Instrumentation, 1996, Denver, CO, United States

Abstract

For actively shielded, narrow aperture germanium spectrometers at balloon or spacecraft altitudes, the beta decay of radio-active nuclei is the dominant source of background in the 0.2 to 2 MeV energy range. This component of the background is internal to the germanium detectors (GeDs) and results from the activation of Ge nuclei by cosmic ray secondaries. The sensitivity of GeD spectrometers can be improved by rejecting beta-decay events, which deposit energy at a single site in the detector, while retaining photon events, which are predominantly multiple site at these energies. Pulse shape discrimination (PSD) techniques can distinguish between single- and multiple-site events by analyzing the shape of GeDs' current pulses. Here we present results of laboratory tests of PSD with a newly developed narrow-inner-bore (0.6 cm diameter) coaxial GeD and compare them to numerical simulations.

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Said A. Slassi-Sennou, Steven E. Boggs, Bryon Philhour, Robert W. Campbell, Paul T. Feffer, Robert P. Lin, Steven McBride, Henry J. Primbsch, Chris P. Cork, Fred S. Goulding, Paul N. Luke, Norman W. Madden, Don F. Malone, and Richard H. Pehl "Laboratory tests and simulations of pulse shape discrimination (PSD) technique for background reduction in germanium gamma-ray detectors", Proc. SPIE 2806, Gamma-Ray and Cosmic-Ray Detectors, Techniques, and Missions, (18 October 1996); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.254020

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