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

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 degrees C to 120 degrees C. Steady-state X-ray (40 keV, 300 krad (SiO2), similar to 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.

Automated summary

The research shows that the coupled radiation and temperature effect has a minor impact on the gain of Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) and Erbium-ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier (EYDFA). Furthermore, the study also found that radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) kinetics of rare-earth-doped fibers can be influenced by the presence of codopant cerium.