Nuclear reactions in silicon and germanium detectors and peak intensity losses for helions

Using the optical model, with parameters that fit the elastic scattering data, the reaction cross sections of helions interacting with silicon and germanium have been obtained. With the range-energy relation and the reaction cross section as inputs, the peak intensity losses for helions in solid state detectors have been determined. It is found that the corrections to detection efficiency due to the reaction losses can be as high as 10 to 15% for 300 MeV helions. (orig.)