Time-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, using high order harmonics, is used to measure the energy relaxation rate of hot electrons in α-SiO2 with sub-picosecond time resolution. Our results indicate that electrons of 30 eV kinetic energy in the conduction band relax at a rate which is at least two orders of magnitude lower than the one of photo-excited carriers of a few eV. As a result, we give insight in the relaxation process of hot electrons and show that impact ionization probability per unit time is only of the order of 1/40 ps−1, in very strong contrast with the much higher value generally assumed in models of optical breakdown.

Recent advances in the synthesis of diamond films led to the fabrication of new devices that enable the direct measurement of the alpha activity of a corrosive liquid source. Such devices can be directly immersed in radioactive liquid solutions for the in-situ and real time measurement of their alpha activity. We report here on the fabrication of diamond from the chemical vapour deposition (CVD) technique and its use for the monitoring of the alpha activity of a plutonium 239 radioactive source diluted in concentrated nitric acid. Tests have demonstrated the excellent reliability of the CVD diamond detectors, that would give great benefit to the monitoring of the nuclear fuel assembly re-processing, and in particular for corrosive wastes identification and treatment.

Diamond polycrystalline films have been synthesised using the Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) technique in order to fabricate new types of photo-detectors for the characterisation of x-ray light sources as encountered in synchrotron experiments. Since diamond exhibits a low absorption to low energy x-ray photons, these devices allow beam position monitoring with very little beam attenuation at photon energies as low as 2 keV. We present here diamond based new devices for four different applications, including (i) semitransparent beam intensity and (ii) position monitors with high position resolution (< 2 µm), (iii) beam profile monitors with 20 µm pitch resolution, and (iv) ultra-fast diamond detectors (response time < 100 ps) that enable the intensity and temporal monitoring of fast x-ray pulses. These devices can be used for in-line characterisation of synchrotron beam line experiments for permanent in-situ monitoring of beam instabilities during experiments as well as for synchrotron machine diagnostics.

In this paper, we present the results of investigations on the use of semiconductors deposited by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) for the fabrication of neutron detectors. For this purpose, 20 μm thick hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) pin diodes and 100 μm thick polycrystalline diamond resistive detectors were fabricated. The detectors were coupled to a neutron-charged particle converter : a layer of either gadolinium or boron (isotope 10 enriched) deposited by evaporation. We have demonstrated the capability of such neutron detectors to operate at neutron fluxes ranging from 101 to 106 neutrons/cm2.s. The fabrication of large area detectors for neutron counting or cartography through the use of multichannel reading circuits is discussed. The advantages of these detectors include the ability to produce large area detectors at low cost, radiation hardness (∼ 4 Mrad for a-Si:H and ∼ 100 Mrad for diamond), and for diamond, operation at temperatures up to 500°C. These properties enable the use of these devices for neutron detection in harsh environments. Thermal neutron detection efficiency up to 22 % and 3 % are expected by coupling a-Si:H diodes and diamond detectors to 3 μm thick gadolinium (isotope 157) and 2 μm thick boron layers, respectively.