The GDH-Detector

For the GDH-Experiment at ELSA, the helicity dependent total photoabsorption cross-section is to be determined. These measurements will be performed with the newly developed GDH-Detector which is presented here. The concept of the GDH-Detector is to detect at least one reaction product from all possible hadronic processes with almost complete acceptance concerning solid angle and efficiency. This is realized by an arrangement of scintillators and lead. The overall acceptance for hadronic processes is better than 99%. The electromagnetic background is suppressed by about five orders of magnitude by means of a threshold Cherenkov detector. In dedicated tests, it has been demonstrated that all individual components of the GDH-Detector fulfill the design goals. Measurements of unpolarized total photoabsorption cross-sections were performed to ensure that the complete GDH-Detector is operational.