Design and performance of photo-cell systems for pulsed laser power and energy measurements

Abstract

The optical and electrical problems in the design of a beam-sampling detector for laser power, energy and pulse duration measurements are discussed with a view to achieving an accuracy of 2% relative to a fundamental detector for pulses down to 3 nsec duration. Experiments show that a beam sampler using an ITT F4000 biplanar vacuum cell mounted in a coaxial taper is capable of this accuracy, but that the silicon diodes (EG + G SD100, Mullard BPY13A) trap some of the photoelectric charge and then release it with a time constant of up to a few microseconds giving a pulse length-dependent sensitivity: they can be used for energy measurements, however. The Mullard 90CV vacuum photo-cell holds back about 6% of the photo-electric charge for about 1μsec and can also give erratic currents up to ten times the computed saturation current: effects probably due to residual gas in the cell. The limits set on performance by the rise time and maximum linear current of the various detectors are discussed. The design of a holder for the ITT F4000 photo-cell giving a rise time constant of 0.25 nsec is given.