Irradiation damage and recovery in gold-coated fiber optics

Abstract

Fiber optic cables are used extensively for remote monitoring in applications under extreme conditions, such as at high temperatures or in ionizing radiation fields. When high temperature fiber optic cables were subjected to gamma irradiations, there was a significant loss in transmission at wavelengths < 350 nm after only 1 minute of irradiation. Negligible recovery of the fiber optic transmission with time was observed over 2 years, but the irradiation damage was almost completely reversed by high temperature annealing at 400 °C.

Keywords

• Radiation damage
• Fiber optic
• Recovery