Gamma radiation induced loss in erbium doped optical fibres

Blandine Tortech (1) , Marco van Uffelen (2) , Andrei Gusarov (2) , Youcef Ouerdane (1) , Aziz Boukenter (1) , Jean-Pierre Meunier (1) , Francis Berghmans (2, 3) , Hugo Thienpont (3)

1 LHC - Laboratoire Hubert Curien
2 SCK-CEN - Centre d'Etude de l'Energie Nucléaire
3 VUB - Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Several single-mode silica-based fibres with different levels of erbium concentrations have been tested under 60Co gamma radiation. Irradiation has been performed at a dose-rate of ~30 Gy/h to a total dose of ~2kGy. Transmission spectra were measured in situ in a spectral range from 1250 to 1630 nm. The measurements show no detectable change in the Er-ions luminescence and absorption spectrum profiles, while a significant (~dB/m/kGy at 1530 nm) increase in transmission losses is attributed to the silica host matrix modifications. This conclusion is drawn based on the post-irradiation photo-luminescence analyses realized with a confocal micro-spectrometer (514.5 nm excitation, P~2mW).

Keywords: Optical fibers; Radiation effects; Optical spectroscopy; Luminescence

Domains: Optics [physics.optics]

Blandine Tortech, Marco van Uffelen, Andrei Gusarov, Youcef Ouerdane, Aziz Boukenter, et al.. Gamma radiation induced loss in erbium doped optical fibres. Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids, 2007, 353, pp.477-480. ⟨10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2006.10.043⟩. ⟨ujm-00140562⟩