Coincidence-Summing Corrections for Close Geometry Measurements

For a given stellar temperature, nuclear reactions take place in the energy range of the Gamow window with the relatively low energies of the astrophysical interest for charged particle induced reactions. In order to measure the nuclear reaction cross sections with the activation method at projectile energies as low as possible, a gamma counting system that consists of Ge detectors and the irradiated target in close geometry is required. The presence of cascade transitions requires coincidence summing corrections that can not be ignored because of the very large solid angle. In this study, the determination of the summing correction factor and photopeak efficiency for a gamma spectrometer, as an example, composed of two Ge clover detectors in close geometry is briefly described.