Detecting multi-hit events in a CdZnTe coplanar grid detector using pulse shape analysis: A method for improving background rejection in the COBRA experiment

A number of experiments are underway to search for a rare form of radioactivity, neutrinoless double beta decay, as a measurement of the half-life would enable the neutrino mass to be determined. The COBRA collaboration [1,2] (Zuber, 2001; Dawson, 2009) employs CdZnTe detectors in such a search. aper describes techniques using pulse shape analysis for identifying two-centre events in a coplanar grid CdZnTe detector. This enables Compton scatter events to be identified and so suppressing the background present within the COBRA detectors.