Radiation damage in optical fibers

This article reports results of our investigation of the radiation resistance for some types of quartz and plastic fibers. Quartz fibers with high concentration of OH radicals in their cores show a radiation resistance of about 60–100 kGy/m in the UV region (λ = 337 nm). Quartz fibers partially recover their optical characteristics at room temperature in air and have entirely recovered after 1 h of heating at 300–400°C. Fragile plastic fibers have shown up to 300 times lower level of radiation resistance against normal ones.