Combined Temperature and Radiation Effects on the Gain of Er- and Er–Yb-Doped Fiber Amplifiers.

ERBIUM; TEMPERATURE effect; RADIATION tolerance; FIBERS; OPTICAL fibers; OPTICAL amplifiers; FIBER testing

We investigated the coupled radiation and temperature effect on the gain degradation of erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and erbium–ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA). The irradiation temperatures range from −40 °C to 120 °C. Steady-state $X$ -ray (40 keV, 300 krad (SiO2), ~27 rad/s) experiments provide evidence for a minor coupled radiation and temperature effect on the gains of both reference and radiation-tolerant EDFA and EYDFA. This is an important result as it validates the reliance on room-temperature testing in establishing the suitability of fiber amplifiers for space applications. Furthermore, we also investigated the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) kinetics during and after the various rare-earth-doped fiber irradiations to improve our knowledge of the basic radiation-effects mechanisms and their dependence on the temperature during irradiation. It appears that these effects also depend on the presence of cerium, a codopant that is incorporated to passivate the Al- or P-related defects and then to enhance the amplifier radiation tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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