Performance of an F-Doped Fiber Under Very High Ionizing Radiation Exposures

Radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) of silica-based optical fibers is a well-known and documented phenomenon. Radiation-hardened fibers, mainly having pure silica core (PSC), combat this effect successfully. Even better results have been reported for fibers with Fluorine-doped cores, especially for the transmission of visible wavelengths. Here, we show the results of an experiment at telecom wavelengths (1310 and 1550 nm) in a nuclear reactor core, demonstrating that for dose levels up to tens of MGy (SiO2) the F-doped fiber indeed shows less RIA than PSC fibers. However, at higher levels, the F-doped fiber loses its advantage, and the PSC fiber shows lower RIA than the F-doped for these doses and wavelengths.