Sistema fotodetector econômico para utilização em laboratórios de ensino e pesquisa

A photodetector for using in quantitative measurements of the irradiance or power of a laser beam needs to have a linear response. Devices with this property can be acquired but usually they are expensive. In this paper we propose the construction of a photodetector that employs a Light Dependent Resistor (LDR), which has a nonlinear response. In this situation, for using such a photodetector it is necessary a previous calibration. The performance of the new system in experiments that need to quantify the radiant power in stationary conditions was evaluated by comparing the results of the measurement of the radius of a gaussian beam through the knife-edge technique, with the obtained with a commercial linear photodetector.