Application of InP:Fe photoconductors as a fast and sensitive soft x‐ray detector and bolometer (abstract)

Recently we have demonstrated that InP:Fe photoconductors are fast (FWHM∼150 ps), sensitive (2.7×10−3 A/W), and flat response soft x‐ray detectors using synchrotron radiation from the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory.1 We have applied these to the measurement of the radiation emitted by a collapsing annular gas (argon) puff z‐pinch plasma. The detector was used in two modes of operation: (1) a filtered soft x‐ray detector as a pinch diagnostic and (2) a fast unfiltered bolometer to measure the total radiated power as a function of time. We will compare the performance of the photoconductors to other common fast x‐ray detectors and bolometers.