A pair spectrometer for measuring multipolarities of energetic nuclear transitions

Abstract: A multi-detector array has been designed and constructed for the simultaneous measurement of energy- and angular correlations of electron-positron pairs. Experimental results are obtained over a wide angular range for high-energy transitions in 16O, 12C and 8Be. A comparison with GEANT simulations demonstrates that angular correlations between 50 and 180 degrees of the electron-positron pairs in the energy range between 6 and 18 MeV can be determined with sufficient resolution and efficiency.