Building an array of barium fluoride radiation detectors for nuclear lifetime measurements

DANTE, the Di-Pentagonal Array for Nuclear Timing Experiments, is an array of ten Barium Fluoride detectors placed in the pentagonal gaps of the existing 8π array of High Purity Germanium detectors, which is currently in use at TRIUMF for beta decay experiments. DANTE complements the high energy resolution of HPGe with the good timing resolution of BaF2 crystals coupled to fast photomultiplier tubes. This thesis will discuss the initial assembly and testing of the detectors used for the array, followed by a DANTE commissioning experiment using a 152Eu source to measure the half-life of the 121.8 keV state in 152Sm.