| This thesis describes a new approach for designing position sensitive devices (PSD). Rather than trying to obtain a linear response to a light source this design takes advantage of the nonlinearities present in existing devices. Specifically it uses a p-n junction to obtain a Gaussian-shaped response curve to light. Using such response curves, two-dimensional position detection of an object can be accomplished with three detectors. The sensitivity of this PSD may be independent of the size of the light source and the device may not need calibration. |
