Measure CO2 laser pulse

[Bertho]

I like to be able to measure pulse rise and fall times of a CO2 laser. Regular photo diodes are not specified at that wavelength. I see several references to very expensive HgCdTe diodes. Any suggestions for a low-cost sensor? I have the oscilloscope and the rest of the needed equipment.
TIA
Bertho

[KTP]

Any chance a single small low mass thermocouple coated in some sort of carbon would work? Not anything large like a multiple unit TEC but just a single very small one.

Not sure though if you are talking about stuff on the order of millisecond..

[Bertho]

Thanks KTP,
Actually, I am looking for a microsecond response. Photo diodes will achieve nanoseconds but almost all are not specified at 10600 nm. Since I have lots of power I do not need a sensitive detector, but reasonably linear and fast.
Bertho

[KTP]

Well, come to think of it, I used to have a Molectron power sensor I pulled out of a pulsed ruby laser which would measure very fast pulses. I shot it a few times with my SSY1 yag rangefinder laser and saw pulses on it faster than a microsecond rise time. I realize that was 1064nm and not 10,600nm, but the Molectron sensor was not photodiode based. It was some sort of fast reaction thermal sensor I believe. I gave it away to Sam Goldwasser a couple years ago.

So maybe there is some hope for a non-photo diode solution?