AGATA - Advanced GAmma Tracking Array

The Advanced GAmma Tracking Array ( AGATA) is a European project to develop and operate the next generation gamma-ray spectrometer. AGATAis based on the technique of gamma-rayenergy tracking in electrically segmented high-purity germanium crystals. This technique requires the accurate determination of the energy, time and position of every interaction as a gamma raydeposits its energy within the detector volume. Reconstruction of the full interaction path results in a detector with very high efficiency and excellent spectral response. The realisation of gamma-raytracking and AGATAis a result of many technical advances. These include the development of encapsulated highly segmented germanium detectors assembled in a triple cluster detector cryostat, an electronics system with fast digital sampling and a data acquisition system to process the data at a high rate. The full characterisation of the crystals was measured and compared with detector-response simulations. This enabled pulse-shape analysis algorithms, to extract energy, time and position, to be employed. In addition, tracking algorithms for event reconstructionwere developed. The first phase of AGATAis now complete and operational in its first physics campaign. In the future AGATAwill be moved between laboratories in Europe and operated in a series of campaigns to take advantage of the different beams and facilities available to maximise its science output. The paper reviews all the achievements made in the AGATAproject including all the necessary infrastructure to operate and support the spectrometer.