  GALATEA is a test facility designed to investigate bulk and surface effects
in high purity germanium detectors. A vacuum tank houses an infrared screened
volume with a cooled detector inside. A system of three stages allows an almost
complete scan of the detector. The main feature of GALATEA is that there is no
material between source and detector. This allows the usage of alpha and beta
sources as well as of a laser beam to study surface effects. A 19-fold
segmented true-coaxial germanium detector was used for commissioning.
