In radiation detectors, the spatial distribution of the electric field plays a fundamental role in their operation. Access to this field distribution is of strategic importance, especially when investigating the perturbing effects induced by incident radiation. For example, one dangerous effect that prevents their proper operation is the accumulation of internal space charge. Here, we probe the two-dimensional electric field in a Schottky CdTe detector using the Pockels effect and report on its local perturbation after exposure to an optical beam at the anode electrode. Our electro-optical imaging setup, together with a custom processing routine, allows the extraction of the electric-field vector maps and their dynamics during a voltage bias-optical exposure sequence. The results are in agreement with numerical simulations, allowing us to confirm a two-level model based on a dominant deep level. Such a simple model is indeed able to fully account for both the temporal and spatial dynamics of the perturbed electric field. This approach thus allows a deeper understanding of the main mechanisms affecting the non-equilibrium electric-field distribution in CdTe Schottky detectors, such as those leading to polarization. In the future, it could also be used to predict and improve the performance of planar or electrode-segmented detectors.
Keywords: CdTe; Pockels effect; deep levels; electric field imaging; polarization; radiation detectors; semi-insulating.