Segmented quasi-coaxial HP-Ge detectors optimized for spatial localization of the events

A methodology for the design of segmented high purity Germanium detectors is presented. Its motivation follows from the necessity of making it easier to derive fast algorithms for measuring the gamma–detector interaction position. By using our study, detector geometries can be designed, which could allow a first estimate of the interaction coordinate along the carrier drift direction by analyzing the shape of the signal of a single segment. The maximum resolution that can be achieved and the corresponding conditions for the electronics are highlighted: basic unavoidable constraints limit the resolution to around 3 mm, but this first position estimate can be used, at least in principle, as a starting point for more accurate, although computationally heavy, algorithms.