An experimental study of the transient and temperature-dependent behavior of Ge:Be and Ge:Zn photoconductors has been performed under the low background photon flux conditions (p dot approx. = 10/sup 8/ photons/second) typical of astronomy and astrophysics applications. The responsivity of Ge:Be and Ge:Zn detectors is strongly temperature-dependent in closely compensated material, and the effect of compensation on free carrier lifetime in Ge:Be has been measured using the photo-Hall effect technique. Closely compensated material has been obtained by controlling the concentration of novel hydrogen-related shallow acceptor complexes, A(Be,H) and A(Zn,H), which exist in doped crystals grown under a H/sub 2/ atmosphere. A review of selection criteria for multilevel materials for optimum photoconductor performance is included. 55 refs., 47 figs.