Enhanced backscatter and unsaturated blue wavelength shifts in F-doped fused silica optical fibers exposed to extreme neutron radiation damage

Christian M. Petrie; Daniel C. Sweeney

doi:10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2023.122441

Enhanced backscatter and unsaturated blue wavelength shifts in F-doped fused silica optical fibers exposed to extreme neutron radiation damage

Christian M. Petrie, Daniel C. Sweeney

Advanced Fuel Fabrication and Instrument

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

4 Scopus citations

Abstract

Amorphous fused silica (a-SiO₂) optical fibers, with and without inscribed Bragg gratings, were interrogated using infrared (∼1550 nm) optical backscatter reflectometry during ∼25 days of intense neutron irradiation to a fast (energy > 0.1 MeV) neutron fluence of ∼10²¹ n/cm², or ∼1.5 atomic displacements per atom. The reflected light amplitudes in Ge-doped core telecommunications fiber dropped below detection limits (>15 dB attenuation) within 3 days of irradiation (∼10²⁰ fast n/cm²). Amplitudes from a pure silica core, F-doped silica cladding fiber reached equilibrium levels ∼1.5–2 dB higher than pre-irradiation values, whereas Bragg gratings inscribed in the same fiber using a femtosecond laser (point-by-point method) suffered > 45 dB attenuation. Blue wavelength shifts were initially consistent with previous radiation-induced compaction models but increased linearly with increasing neutron fluence (no evidence of saturation) beyond 10²⁰ n/cm² and exceeded 0.6%, which corresponds to >1,000 °C drift if used to measure temperature changes.

Original language	English
Article number	122441
Journal	Journal of Non-Crystalline Solids
Volume	615
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2023.122441
State	Published - Sep 1 2023

Funding

This research was sponsored by the Nuclear Science User Facilities Program of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy. Data curation was supported by the Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Program of the US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy. Neutron irradiation in HFIR was made possible by the US DOE, Office of Science. Shay Chapel, Padhraic Mulligan, Kurt Smith, David Bryant, Bob Sitterson, Adam James, Maureen Searles, and Nora Dianne Ezell contributed to the design, analysis, assembly, and operation of the irradiation experiment. This research was sponsored by the Nuclear Science User Facilities Program of the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy. Data curation was supported by the Advanced Sensors and Instrumentation Program of the US DOE, Office of Nuclear Energy. Neutron irradiation in HFIR was made possible by the US DOE, Office of Science. Shay Chapel, Padhraic Mulligan, Kurt Smith, David Bryant, Bob Sitterson, Adam James, Maureen Searles, and Nora Dianne Ezell contributed to the design, analysis, assembly, and operation of the irradiation experiment.

Funders	Funder number
Nora Dianne Ezell
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Science
Office of Nuclear Energy

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10.1016/j.jnoncrysol.2023.122441

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title = "Enhanced backscatter and unsaturated blue wavelength shifts in F-doped fused silica optical fibers exposed to extreme neutron radiation damage",

abstract = "Amorphous fused silica (a-SiO2) optical fibers, with and without inscribed Bragg gratings, were interrogated using infrared (∼1550 nm) optical backscatter reflectometry during ∼25 days of intense neutron irradiation to a fast (energy > 0.1 MeV) neutron fluence of ∼1021 n/cm2, or ∼1.5 atomic displacements per atom. The reflected light amplitudes in Ge-doped core telecommunications fiber dropped below detection limits (>15 dB attenuation) within 3 days of irradiation (∼1020 fast n/cm2). Amplitudes from a pure silica core, F-doped silica cladding fiber reached equilibrium levels ∼1.5–2 dB higher than pre-irradiation values, whereas Bragg gratings inscribed in the same fiber using a femtosecond laser (point-by-point method) suffered > 45 dB attenuation. Blue wavelength shifts were initially consistent with previous radiation-induced compaction models but increased linearly with increasing neutron fluence (no evidence of saturation) beyond 1020 n/cm2 and exceeded 0.6%, which corresponds to >1,000 °C drift if used to measure temperature changes.",

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AU - Petrie, Christian M.

AU - Sweeney, Daniel C.

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Y1 - 2023/9/1

N2 - Amorphous fused silica (a-SiO2) optical fibers, with and without inscribed Bragg gratings, were interrogated using infrared (∼1550 nm) optical backscatter reflectometry during ∼25 days of intense neutron irradiation to a fast (energy > 0.1 MeV) neutron fluence of ∼1021 n/cm2, or ∼1.5 atomic displacements per atom. The reflected light amplitudes in Ge-doped core telecommunications fiber dropped below detection limits (>15 dB attenuation) within 3 days of irradiation (∼1020 fast n/cm2). Amplitudes from a pure silica core, F-doped silica cladding fiber reached equilibrium levels ∼1.5–2 dB higher than pre-irradiation values, whereas Bragg gratings inscribed in the same fiber using a femtosecond laser (point-by-point method) suffered > 45 dB attenuation. Blue wavelength shifts were initially consistent with previous radiation-induced compaction models but increased linearly with increasing neutron fluence (no evidence of saturation) beyond 1020 n/cm2 and exceeded 0.6%, which corresponds to >1,000 °C drift if used to measure temperature changes.

AB - Amorphous fused silica (a-SiO2) optical fibers, with and without inscribed Bragg gratings, were interrogated using infrared (∼1550 nm) optical backscatter reflectometry during ∼25 days of intense neutron irradiation to a fast (energy > 0.1 MeV) neutron fluence of ∼1021 n/cm2, or ∼1.5 atomic displacements per atom. The reflected light amplitudes in Ge-doped core telecommunications fiber dropped below detection limits (>15 dB attenuation) within 3 days of irradiation (∼1020 fast n/cm2). Amplitudes from a pure silica core, F-doped silica cladding fiber reached equilibrium levels ∼1.5–2 dB higher than pre-irradiation values, whereas Bragg gratings inscribed in the same fiber using a femtosecond laser (point-by-point method) suffered > 45 dB attenuation. Blue wavelength shifts were initially consistent with previous radiation-induced compaction models but increased linearly with increasing neutron fluence (no evidence of saturation) beyond 1020 n/cm2 and exceeded 0.6%, which corresponds to >1,000 °C drift if used to measure temperature changes.

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Enhanced backscatter and unsaturated blue wavelength shifts in F-doped fused silica optical fibers exposed to extreme neutron radiation damage

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