Publications Details
Evaluation of fiber optic performance in the ACRR
Four fluorosilica clad, all silica core fibers with polyamide buffers were examined for radiation-induced, transient absorption in the central cavity of the Annular Core Research Reactor. The reactor operated 24 times in the pulse mode, typically yielding gamma doses of 15 krad(Si) and neutron fluences of 1.4 {times}10{sup 14} nts/cm{sup 2} thermal and 1.0 {times} 10{sup 15} nts/cm{sup 2} (fast). The two low-OH fibers absorbed 90% of the light in the 400 to 500 nm region and 30% in the 700 and 800 nm region. The high-OH fibers absorbed 20% in the 400 to 500 nm region and 50% in the 700 to 800 nm region. Saturation of the transient induced absorption was observed in all the fibers. No systematic measurements were taken of long term induced absorption. However, excessive absorption was not a problem in any fibers, even those that received total gamma doses of 5 Mrad(Si). Scintillation in the 680 to 820 mn band was observed. This report documents the data from these experiments.