Application of the microinterferometric tomography setup to the reliability tests of the fiber sensors exposed to cumulated gamma radiation

Abstract

In this paper we report on the measurement of the refractive index profile of optical fibers exposed to the gamma radiation. The tool we used for determining the refractive index distribution is microinterferometric tomography. Nuclear radiation is known to affect the guiding properties of optical fibers and it is therefore essential to characterize these effects to assess the applicability of fiber-optic technology for communication and sensing in space applications and in nuclear industry. We show that the fibres exhibit a slight refractive index increase which confirms results reported earlier.

Numerical Analysis of Radiation Effects on Fiber Optic Sensors

“…As discussed earlier, radiation alters the RI by means of compactions and creating diferetnt types of defects in the host fiber. Several works have observed the gamma-radiation-induced change in RI values in MGy doses [39][40][41], which are shown in Table 3. It is seen that the change in RI is not consistent with the accumulated doses since several factors, such as dose rate, composition of fibers, and irradiation temperature, can affect the RI change.…”