The GALATEA test-facility for high purity germanium detectors

Abstract GALATEA is a test facility designed to investigate bulk and surface effects in high purity germanium detectors. A vacuum tank houses a cold volume with the detector inside. A system of three precision motorized stages allows an almost complete scan of the detector. The main feature of GALATEA is that there is no material between source and detector. This allows the usage of alpha and beta sources to study surface effects. A 19-fold segmented true-coaxial germanium detector was used for commissioning. A first analysis of data obtained with an alpha source is presented here.