PRODUCTION OF RADIONUCLIDES BY 1.7 GEV PROTON-INDUCED REACTIONS ON CDTE CRYSTALS

High levels of background radiation are one of the major problems asso ciated with satellite-borne telescopes operating in the gamma-ray doma in. Although there are many contributions to this background, cosmic-p roton induced radioactivity is perhaps the most difficult to remove be cause of the delayed gamma-emission. As a part of the INTEGRAL project a series of studies have been performed on a range of materials to de termine the production cross sections for unstable isotopes produced b y energetic protons. In this paper we present results for the irradiat ion of small (5 x 5 x 2 mm) cadmium telluride (CdTe) crystal with 1.7 GeV protons. Data are given for experimentally determined production c ross sections which are compared to simulation predictions by the GEAN T/GCALOR code.