NATO Radiation Effects Test Program For Optical Fibers And Components

Telecommunications has provided the primary impetus for the explosive growth in fiber-optics technologies over the last decade. However, although standard telecommunications is the largest volume-user of optical fibers, other applications that exploit the unique attributes of photonics systems are becoming increasingly prominent. Many of these systems require that the fiber properties remain acceptable while exposed to a challenging variety of adverse environments. Many of these environments include exposure to ionizing radiation. Radiation-induced modifications to optical materials have been studied for several decades, so it was to be anticipated that such effects would be present in optical fibers. Many papers and several comprehensive reviews",3,4 have been devoted to better understand-ing of such phenomena.