Theoretical study of the space radiation effects in an EDFA for an small satellite mission

International audienceNIMPH (Nanosatellite to Investigate Microwave Photonic Hardware) is a 3U Cube-Sat 1 project devoted to accomplish a qualification process of Microwave-Photonics (MWP) technology operating in space. With an advanced concept of MWP payload including an Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), the nanosatellite will be launched in 2019 to measure at Low Earth Orbit(LEO) the effects of space radiation over the fiber, monitoring their critical performance parameters: gain, output power and noise figure (NF). Standing on a well verified model for the gain of an EDFA in radiative constraints, here we present a pre-study of the radiation effects in the amplifier within the context of NIMPH mission, when the fiber is operated in space at temperatures between 20 and 73 • C within a set of predefined orbits of 355-1447 km altitude, and pumped in copropagating configuration at 980 nm. Also, a simple model is proposed to estimate the NF growth of an EDFA in an ionizing environment, determining the possible variation of noise at typical space dose rates

Theoretical study of the space radiation effects in an EDFA for an small satellite mission

NIMPH (Nanosatellite to Investigate Microwave Photonic Hardware) is a 3U Cube-Sat 1 project devoted to accomplish a qualification process of Microwave-Photonics (MWP) technology operating in space. With an advanced concept of MWP payload including an Erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA), the nanosatellite will be launched in 2019 to measure at Low Earth Orbit(LEO) the effects of space radiation over the fiber, monitoring their critical performance parameters: gain, output power and noise figure (NF). Standing on a well verified model for the gain of an EDFA in radiative constraints, here we present a pre-study of the radiation effects in the amplifier within the context of NIMPH mission, when the fiber is operated in space at temperatures between 20 and 73 • C within a set of predefined orbits of 355-1447 km altitude, and pumped in copropagating configuration at 980 nm. Also, a simple model is proposed to estimate the NF growth of an EDFA in an ionizing environment, determining the possible variation of noise at typical space dose rates