Qualification and Calibration of Single-Mode Phosphosilicate Optical Fiber for Dosimetry at CERN

• Published in: Journal of lightwave technology Vol. 37; no. 18; pp. 4643 - 4649
• Main Authors: Francesca, Diego Di, Vecchi, Gaetano Li, Girard, Sylvain, Morana, Adriana, Reghioua, Imene, Alessi, Antonino, Hoehr, Cornelia, Robin, Thierry, Kadi, Yacine, Brugger, Markus
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 15-09-2019; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE); Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)/Optical Society of America(OSA)
• Subjects: Attenuation; CERN; Dependence; Distributed sensor; Dosimeters; Dosimetry; Engineering Sciences; Large Hadron Collider; optical fiber radiation sensing; Optical fiber sensors; Optical fibers; Optics; Photonic; Protons; Radiation dosage; Radiation effects; radiation induced attenuation; Radiation tests; Reflectometers; Temperature measurement; total ionizing dose; X-rays; γ-rays
• ISSN: 0733-8724; 1558-2213
• DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2019.2915510

We report the results of several complementary radiation tests to qualify and calibrate a highly radiation sensitive Single-Mode (SM) Optical Fiber (OF) for distributed dosimetry application at CERN. The Radiation Induced Attenuation (RIA) is the physical phenomenon used to evaluate the Total Ionizing Dose (TID) received by the OF sensor. The radiation response tests comprise online RIA in the Near InfraRed (NIR) domain under 60 Co γ-rays, X-rays and proton irradiations, as well as post mortem Optical Attenuation (OA) measurement to evaluate long term fading effects of the RIA. In this paper, we focus on the effect of successive irradiations, dose rate dependence and effects related to the change of the irradiation temperature up to 45 °C. On the basis of our investigation, we conclude that the studied OF is a suitable TID sensor and that it is well adapted for distributed OF radiation dose sensing. It is fully compatible with commercially available SM Optical Time Domain Reflectometers, with some noticeable advantages with respect to previously developed systems based on multimode OFs. Finally, the OF we investigated has been selected for the distributed monitoring of low radiation dose levels at CERN in the injector chain (Proton Synchrotron Booster, Proton Synchrotron, Super Proton Synchrotron) and parts of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC).