Fast GaAs Photoconductor Responses to Subnanosecond Proton Pulses

Abstract

GaAs photoconductors -have been tailored to detect ultrafast proton pulses having energies ranging between 4 and 9 MeV. The sensitivity, the linearity and the speed of response of the devices are analyzed as a function of their neutron pre-irradiation treatment. The dependence of the sensitivity on the proton energy and the applied polarization is also studied. Finally, the experimental results are compared with a simple theoretical model.