The use of cosmic-ray muons in the energy calibration of the Beta-decay Paul Trap silicon-detector array

• Published in: Nuclear instruments & methods in physics research. Section A, Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment Accelerators, spectrometers, detectors and associated equipment, 2018-04, Vol.887 (C)
• Main Authors: Hirsh, T. Y., Perez Galvan, A., Burkey, M., Aprahamian, A., Buchinger, F., Caldwell, S., Clark, J. A., Gallant, A., Heckmaier, E., Levand, A. F., Savard, G.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0168-9002; 1872-9576
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nima.2018.01.021

This article presents an approach to calibrate the energy response of double-sided silicon strip detectors (DSSDs) for low-energy nuclear-science experiments by utilizing cosmic-ray muons. For the 1-mm-thick detectors used with the Beta-decay Paul Trap, the minimum-ionizing peak from these muons provides a stable and time-independent in situ calibration point at around 300 keV, which supplements the calibration data obtained above 3 MeV from sources. The muon-data calibration is achieved by comparing experimental spectra with detailed Monte Carlo simulations performed using GEANT4 and CRY codes. This additional information constrains the calibration at lower energies, resulting in improvements in quality and accuracy.