Effect of ionizing radiation on in situ Raman scattering and photoluminescence of silica optical fibers

Raman fiber optic chemical sensors provide remote in situ characterization capability. One application of Raman fiber optic chemical sensors is the characterization of the contents of nuclear waste tanks. In these tanks it is expected that approximately 20 meters of optical fiber will be exposed to radiation levels between 100 and 1000 rads/hour. In support of this work two silica optical fiber types (one a communications grade fiber and the other nominally radiation resistant) have been tested at the radiation levels expected in the tanks. Luminescence and Raman scattering measurements have been performed in situ with 488-nm excitation on two types of silica optical fiber exposed to a constant low to moderate dose rate of gamma radiation of 880 rads(Si)/hour from a ⁶⁰Co source for a total dose of greater than 45 krads. The nominally radiation-resistant fiber was also excited with 514.5-nm and near-infrared 830-nm laser radiation. The rate of the silica Raman signal decrease is more than three times greater for the visible excitation wavelengths than for the 830-nm excitation for the radiation resistant fiber. The behavior of the 650-nm photoluminescence line upon irradiation was different for the two fibers studied, both in terms of the shift of the 650-nm line and rate of increase of the normalized photoluminescence intensity. In all cases the photoluminescence from the fibers was less than the Raman intensity. No radioluminescence was observed in either fiber. The radiation resistant fiber exhibited photobleaching effects on the Raman transmission when photoannealed with 488-nm laser light