Spectrum Degradation Effects in Ge(Li) Detectors

The mechanisms responsible for the degradation of the performance of Ge(Li) detectors (which include the effects of uniform trapping, non-uniform trap distribution, and locally weak collection fields) are considered, and simulated spectra have been computed. Experimental measurements have been made to identify these sources of degradation. The important results include a measurement of the effective capture cross sections of the most important traps and a determination of the main sources of non-uniform trap distribution and weak collection fields in Ge(Li) detectors.