Study of semi-conductor spectrometers for high counting rates. Application to the study of the reaction 31P (p, α0): Ep < 2 MeV

The study of nuclear reactions involving particles of low charge (E < 2 MeV) calls for spectrometers of high resolving power. In many experiments however, the counting rate is high because of Coulomb scattering at the target: this results in a distortion of the experimental spectra and a loss of resolving power in the detection equipment. The first part of the work is devoted to an evaluation of the resolving power obtained with silicon-detector spectrometers. A study of the elastic scattering of protons by 31P shows which are the factors limiting the resolving power. In the second part we examine the various types of spectrometer which can be used in the case of a high count-rate. We have built an apparatus which can be used for carrying out spectrometry on particles produced by nuclear reactions, for a total, count-rate of 105 counts/sec. (author)