Abstract

Recent work has shown that Fe-doped InP is an efficient photoconductive material with sub-100 psec response.¹ Optoelectronic switches fabricated from this material have potential applications in radiation detection, electronic gating, and high- voltage pulse generation. Many applications of the optoelectronic switch are possible because it is a simple photoconductor. Thus the important characteristics of a photoconductor are: (1) a response linear with applied voltage, (2) a response linear with excitation intensity, and (3) a speed of response independent of applied voltage. In this work we have investigated the transient response characteristics of InP:Fe optoelectronic switches to verify these basic properties. We have shown that these devices do in fact behave as photoconductors with the properties identified.

© 1982 Optical Society of America