Title: photoconductive detector
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - photoconductive detector
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.P04590
Status: current

Definition
In a photoconductive detector an electric potential is applied across the absorbing region and causes a current to flow in proportion to the irradiance if the photon energy exceeds the energy gap between the valence and the conduction band. Depending on their spectral responsivity function, photoconductive detectors are divided into photoconductive detectors for the visible wavelength range e.g. cadmium sulfide or $\ce{CdS}$ photoconductive detectors, photoconductive detectors for the near infrared wavelength range e.g. lead sulfide or $\ce{PbS}$ photoconductive detectors, photoconductive detectors for the infrared wavelength range e.g. silicon doped with arsenide or $\ce{Si:As}$ photoconductive detectors, and the mercury-cadmium-telluride or $\ce{HgCdTe}$ photoconductive detector.

Related Terms
- conduction band: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/C01244
- detector: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05054
- electric potential: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/E01935
- infrared: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/IT07399
- spectral responsivity function: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/R05347
- valence: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/V06588
- visible: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/VT07496
- wavelength: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/W06659

Source
- PAC, 1995, 67, 1745. 'Nomenclature, symbols, units and their usage in spectrochemical analysis-XI. Detection of radiation (IUPAC Recommendations 1995)' on page 1754 (https://doi.org/10.1351/pac199567101745)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04590/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04590/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/P04590/xml

Citation: Citation: 'photoconductive detector' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.P04590
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Accessed: 2026-04-27T14:51:48+00:00