Efficient and Controllable Silver Nanoparticles Generation in Ion-exchanged Soda-lime Glasses by Simultaneous Heat Treatment and UV Exposure

International audienceIn this paper, we report on the space-selective precipitation of silver nanoparticles in ion-exchanged silica-based glasses, by simultaneous continuous wave UV exposure and heat treatment. Changes in the absorption spectrum of the glass are explained by the growth of the silver nanoparticles when increasing the UV power density and the annealing temperature. Nanoparticles of average diameter 40 nm have been observed, whereas silver nanoparticles formed under laser exposure at room temperature are usually limited to few nanometers in diameters

Croissance de nanoparticules d'argent par insolation laser ultra-violette continue dans des verres soda-lime

International audienceDes nanoparticules (NP) d'argent sont obtenues en grande concentration dans des verres soda-lime par insolation laser continue à 244 nm. L'originalité de cette communication réside dans la précipitation locale de grosses NP dont le diamètre peut atteindre 250 nm, en forte concentration, contrairement aux NP formées par irradiation laser pulsée, dont le diamètre n'excède pas quelques nm. Nous montrons que le diamètre des NP dépend directement de la densité de puissance utilisée et que les plus grosses NP sont formées par coalescence des plus petites. Les zones insolées avec la plus forte densité de puissance présente un caractère quasi-métallique très réfléchissant

Coupled experiment/simulation approach for the design of radiation-hardened rare-earth doped optical fibers and amplifiers

We developed an approach to design radiation-hardened rare earth -doped fibers and amplifiers. This methodology combines testing experiments on these devices with particle swarm optimization (PSO) calculations. The composition of Er/Yb-doped phosphosilicate fibers was improved by introducing Cerium inside their cores. Such composition strongly reduces the amplifier radiation sensitivity, limiting its degradation: we observed a gain decreasing from 19 dB to 18 dB after 50 krad whereas previous studies reported higher degradations up to 0°dB at such doses. PSO calculations, taking only into account the radiation effects on the absorption efficiency around the pump and emission wavelengths, correctly reproduce the general trends of experimental results. This calculation tool has been used to study the influence of the amplifier design on its radiation response. The fiber length used to ensure the optimal amplification before irradiation may be rather defined and adjusted to optimize the amplifier performance over the whole space mission profile rather than before integration in the harsh environments. Both forward and backward pumping schemes lead to the same kind of degradation with our active fibers. By using this promising coupled approach, radiation-hardened amplifiers nearly insensitive to radiations may be designed in the future

Sol-gel derived ionic copper-doped microstructured optical fiber: a potential selective ultraviolet radiation dosimeter

International audienceWe report the fabrication and characterization of a photonic crystal fiber (PCF) having a sol-gel core doped with ionic copper. Optical measurements demonstrate that the ionic copper is preserved in the silica glass all along the preparation steps up to fiber drawing. The photoluminescence results clearly show that such an ionic copper-doped fiber constitutes a potential candidate for UV-C (200-280 nm) radiation dosimetry. Indeed, the Cu+-related visible photoluminescence of the fiber shows a linear response to 244 nm light excitation measured for an irradiation power up to 2.7 mW at least on the Cu-doped PCF core. Moreover, this response was found to be fully reversible within the measurement accuracy of this study ( ± 1%), underlying the remarkable stability of copper in the Cu+ oxidation state within the pure silica core prepared by a sol-gel route. This reversibility offers possibilities for the achievement of reusable real-time optical fiber UV-C dosimeters

Design of Radiation-Hardened Rare-Earth Doped Amplifiers Through a Coupled Experiment/Simulation Approach

We present an approach coupling a limited experimental number of tests with numerical simulations regarding the design of radiation-hardened (RH) rare earth (RE)-doped fiber amplifiers. Radiation tests are done on RE-doped fiber samples in order to measure and assess the values of the principal input parameters requested by the simulation tool based on particle swarm optimization (PSO) approach. The proposed simulation procedure is validated by comparing the calculation results with the measured degradations of two amplifiers made with standard and RH RE-doped optical fibers, respectively. After validation, the numerical code is used to theoretically investigate the influence of some amplifier design parameters on its sensitivity to radiations. Simulations show that the RE-doped fiber length used in the amplifier needs to be adjusted to optimize the amplifier performance over the whole space mission profile rather than to obtain the maximal amplification efficiency before its integration in the harsh environment. By combining this coupled approach with the newly-developed RH RE-doped fibers, fiber-based amplifiers nearly insensitive to space environment may be designed in the future

Distributed detection of hydrogen and deuterium diffusion into a single-mode optical fiber with chirped-pulse phase-sensitive optical time-domain reflectometry

For some infrastructures like oil and gas extraction boreholes or radioactive waste repositories, where distributed optical fiber sensors are employed to grant the safety of the facilities, the presence of gas species such as hydrogen or deuterium is one more relevant parameter to monitor. The possibility of employing the same kind of sensors for this purpose is of special interest, reducing the cost by employing a single interrogator, able to measure more than one parameter by simply employing an adequate sensing fiber. To meet this goal, we present here a sensor based on Chirped Pulse Phase sensitive Optical Time Domain Reflectometry, which is able to detect these species while they diffuse into the silica fiber core. Its ability to measure the induced change of its refractive index with a sensitivity around 10 8 has allowed determining hydrogen concentration in the silica core with precision in the order of 10 3 mol/m3 and spatial resolution ~6 m, while also providing an indirect measurement of the solubility of deuterium in a standard telecom-grade optical fiber.Commission of the European Communities JointMinisterio de Economía y CompetitividadMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y UniversidadesComunidad de Madri

Recent advances in radiation-hardened fiber-based technologies for space applications

International audience; In this topical review, the recent progress on radiation-hardened fiber-based technologies is detailed, focusing on examples for space applications. In the first part of the review, we introduce the operational principles of the various fiber-based technologies considered for use in radiation environments: passive optical fibers for data links, diagnostics, active optical fibers for amplifiers and laser sources as well as the different classes of point and distributed fiber sensors: gyroscopes, Bragg gratings, Rayleigh, Raman or Brillouin-based distributed sensors. Second, we describe the state of the art regarding our knowledge of radiation effects on the performance of these devices, from the microscopic effects observed in the amorphous silica glass used to design fiber cores and cladding, to the macroscopic response of fiber-based devices and systems. Third, we present the recent advances regarding the hardening (improvement of the radiation tolerance) of these technologies acting on the material, device or system levels. From the review, the potential of fiber-based technologies for operation in radiation environments is demonstrated and the future challenges to be overcome in the coming years are presented

Real time monitoring of water level and temperature in storage fuel pools through optical fibre sensors

We present an innovative architecture of a Rayleigh-based optical fibre sensor for the monitoring of water level and temperature inside storage nuclear fuel pools. This sensor, able to withstand the harsh constraints encountered under accidental conditions such as those pointed-out during the Fukushima-Daiichi event (temperature up to 100 °C and radiation dose level up to ~20 kGy), exploits the Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry technique to remotely monitor a radiation resistant silica-based optical fibre i.e. its sensing probe. We validate the efficiency and the robustness of water level measurements, which are extrapolated from the temperature profile along the fibre length, in a dedicated test bench allowing the simulation of the environmental operating and accidental conditions. The conceived prototype ensures an easy, practical and no invasive integration into existing nuclear facilities. The obtained results represent a significant breakthrough and comfort the ability of the developed system to overcome both operating and accidental constraints providing the distributed profiles of the water level (0–to–5 m) and temperature (20–to–100 °C) with a resolution that in accidental condition is better than 3 cm and of ~0.5 °C respectively. These new sensors will be able, as safeguards, to contribute and reinforce the safety in existing and future nuclear power plants

Vulnerability of OFDR-based distributed sensors to high γ-ray doses

Vulnerability of Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) based sensors to high γ-ray doses (up to 10 MGy) is evaluated with a specific issue of a radiation-hardened temperature and strain monitoring system for nuclear industry. For this, we characterize the main radiation effects that are expected to degrade the sensor performances in such applicative domain: the radiation-induced attenuation (RIA), the possible evolution with the dose of the Rayleigh scattering phenomenon as well as its dependence on temperature and strain. This preliminary investigation is done after the irradiation and for five different optical fiber types covering the range from radiation-hardened fibers to highly radiation sensitive ones. Our results show that at these high dose levels the scattering mechanism at the basis of the used technique for the monitoring is unaffected (changes below 5%), authorizing acceptable precision on th

Radiation Characterization of Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry Fiber-Based Distributed Sensors

We studied the responses of fiber-based temperature and strain sensors related to Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry (OFDR) and exposed to high γ-ray doses up to 10 MGy. Three different commercial fiber classes are used to investigate the evolution of OFDR parameters with dose, thermal treatment and fiber core/cladding composition. We find that the fiber coating is affected by both thermal and radiation treatments and this modification results in an evolution of the internal stress distribution inside the fiber that influences its temperature and strain Rayleigh coefficients. These two environmental parameters introduce a relative error up to 5% on temperature and strain measures. This uncertainty can be reduced down to 0.5% if a pre-thermal treatment at 80°C and/or a pre-irradiation up to 3 MGy are performed before insertion of the fiber in the harsh environment of interest. These preliminary results demonstrate that OFDR fiber-based distributed sensors look as promising devices to be integrated in radiation environments with associated large ionizing doses