We have designed, developed and tested the avalanche diode structures operational as single photon counters with picosecond resolution on the basis of the GaP material. The background of this research is our development of avalanche structures based on various semiconductor materials designed for single photon counting devices in the last twenty years. All the semiconductor detectors operate at a room temperature or at thermoelectrically achievable temperatures. Electronic circuits for these detectors biasing, quenching and control have been developed and optimized for different applications. Circuits permitting operation of solid state photon counters in both single and multiple photon signal regimes have been developed and applied. Timing resolution of solid state photon counters as high as 50 picoseconds full width at a half maximum has been achieved when detecting single photon signals. The compact and rugged design, radiation resistance, and low operating voltage are attractive features of solid state photon counters in various applications including the space projects. The avalanche structures based on the GaP material exhibit several special features for x-ray operation namely the timing resolution as high 100 picoseconds may be achieved when detecting individual quanta. The application of GaP avalanche photodiode is proposed and reported for interaction experiments on currently developed lab with capillary discharge EUV laser source and triggering co-located femtosecond laser system.

Date Published: 12 October 2007
PDF: 5 pages
Proc. SPIE 6702, Soft X-Ray Lasers and Applications VII, 67020Z (12 October 2007); doi: 10.1117/12.733889

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 6702:
Soft X-Ray Lasers and Applications VII
Gregory J. Tallents; James Dunn, Editor(s)