Comparitive Ionization Energies for Protons, Deuterons and Alpha Particles in High Purity Germanium and Si(Li) Nuclear Radiation Detectors

Relative measurements of the average energy, ε, expended for electron-hole pair generation in silicon and high purity germanium detectors were made using 10 to 19 MeV proton, deuteron and alpha particle beams. The results show that ε is constant for different particles in high purity germanium detectors but not in silicon detectors. A model is presented which could explain both our results and those published in the literature.