High-resolution detectors in nuclear spectroscopy

The sensitivity of gamma-ray spectrometers for nuclear structure studies has improved by two to three orders of magnitude within the last 10 years. This impressive progress is based on larger HPGe crystals, composition of several crystals into a detection unit and electrical segmentation of the detector contacts. Current development projects are concentrating on optimizing the solid angle coverage of detector arrays to further increase the efficiency and on increasing the effective granularity of the detectors. The latter requires further segmentation and gamma-hit position determination by signal-shape analysis.