Response of BGO detectors to photons of 3–50 MeV energy

Abstract The response of an array of 7 hexagonal BGO detectors each 7.5 cm long (6.7 radiation lengths) with 3.6 cm side-to-side distance was measured using monochromatic photons from the tagged-photon facility at the electron accelerator MAMI A at Mainz. The experimental spectra of the deposited energy for a single detector and for the array of seven modules compare very well with the predictions of Monte Carlo shower simulations using the code GEANT3. Significant improvement of the energy resolution is observed for the summed energy spectra compared to the resolution of a single module. This improvement deteriorates at higher photon energies because the length of the detector is not suffi…