A newp‐nphotodetector operating at room temperature and sensitive in the near infrared for wavelengths as long as 1.6 &mgr;m has been made from Ga0.47In0.53As grown lattice matched on InP substrates by LPE. These detectors display avalanche gain and dark current as low as 2×10−9A. Measurements of the speed of response at 1.06 &mgr;m have shown a detector response time as fast as 250 psec.