Gamma ray radiation induced visible light absorption in P-doped silica fibers at low dose levels

Abstract

A CCD Fiber Optic Spectrometer has been used to monitor the gamma ray radiation induced loss in P-doped fibers at different dopant concentrations (1, 5 and 10 mol%) with a light source (an incandescent bulb with a temperature of 2800–3000 K). The range of dose rates is limited to that used in medical applications (cancer treatments), that is 0.1 to 1.0 Gray per minute (Gy/min). At low integral dose level (<2.0 Gy) four absorption peaks were observed (470, 502, 540 and 600 nm) within the visible region. It has been observed that the radiation induced loss at 470 and 600 nm depends strongly on dose rate. At dose rates of 0.2 and 0.5 Gy/min the induced loss shows nonlinear relation to the total dose. However, at high dose rate (1.0 Gy/min) and low dose rate (0.1 Gy/min) it seems to have a linear dependence with total dose. The conversion from NBOHCs to GeX centers was observed during gamma radiation at low dose rates (0.1–0.5 Gy/min). At the wavelength of 502 and 540 nm, the radiation induced losses show excellent linear relations with total dose (<2.0 Gy) with little dose rate dependence. Experimental results show that the sensitivity (induced loss (dB) per meter fiber per Gy) of 5 mol% P-doped silica fiber is more than 30 times greater than that of a standard multi-mode (MM) communication fiber. The results suggest that P-doped silica fiber is a good candidate as a sensing component in fiber optic dosimetry, especially for radiation therapy applications.