Abstract The surface photo voltage (SPV) and photocurrent (PC) transients as a result of the excitation by the short high-intensity light pulses from semiconductor's intrinsic absorption spectral region are investigated in semi-insulating GaAs. It is shown that the mathematical convolution of SPV transients and arbitrary form double-pulse integrator (lock-in, double-boxcar) in a wide temperature range allows to receive the deep-level (DL) spectrum without the need to form electrical contacts to the crystal investigated. The use of such a procedure while scanning the crystal surface with a light spot at a temperature, corresponding to some DL maximum in the spectrum, makes possible the con tactless determination of this DL density distribution profile along the scanning direction.