Characterization of germanium detectors for the first underground laboratory in Mexico

Abstract

This article reports the characterization of two High Purity Germanium detectors performed by extracting and comparing their efficiencies using experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. The efficiencies were calculated for pointlike -ray sources as well as for extended calibration sources. Characteristics of the detectors such as energy linearity, energy resolution and full energy peak efficiencies are reported from measurements performed on surface laboratories. The detectors will be deployed in a γ-ray assay facility that will be located in the first underground laboratory in Mexico, Laboratorio Subterráneo de Mineral del Chico (LABChico), in the Comarca Minera UNESCO Global Geopark [1].