Investigation of the Incorporation of Cerium Ions in MCVD-Silica Glass Preforms for Remote Optical Fiber Radiation Dosimetry.

Monika Cieslikiewicz-Bouet,Adriana Morana,Géraud Bouwmans,Sylvain Girard,Andy Cassez,Laurent Bigot,Hicham El Hamzaoui,Geneviève Chadeyron,Mohamed Bouazaoui,Rachid Mahiou,Youcef Ouerdane,Karen Delplace-Baudelle,Rémi Habert,Bruno Capoen,Aziz Boukenter,Stéphane Plus

doi:10.3390/s21103362

Abstract

The incorporation of Ce3+ ions in silicate glasses is a crucial issue for luminescence-based sensing applications. In this article, we report on silica glass preforms doped with cerium ions fabricated by modified chemical vapor deposition (MCVD) under different atmospheres in order to favor the Ce3+ oxidation state. Structural analysis and photophysical investigations are performed on the obtained glass rods. The preform fabricated under reducing atmosphere presents the highest photoluminescence (PL) quantum yield (QY). This preform drawn into a 125 µm-optical fiber, with a Ce-doped core diameter of about 40 µm, is characterized to confirm the presence of Ce3+ ions inside this optical fiber core. The fiber is then tested in an all-fibered X-ray dosimeter configuration. We demonstrate that this fiber allows the remote monitoring of the X-ray dose rate (flux) through a radioluminescence (RL) signal generated around 460 nm. The response dependence of RL versus dose rate exhibits a linear behavior over five decades, at least from 330 µGy(SiO2)/s up to 22.6 Gy(SiO2)/s. These results attest the potentialities of the MCVD-made Ce-doped material, obtained under reducing atmosphere, for real-time remote ionizing radiation dosimetry.

Highlights

Ionizing radiation, since its discovery in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen and following research carried out by Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie [1], finds a plethora of applications in medicine, nuclear power supply, fundamental research, industrial manufacturing, sterilization, non-destructive testing, food processing, etc
Among several radiation dosimetry techniques, the application of optical fibers started with thermoluminescence (TL) [6], and followed by radiation induced attenuation (RIA), optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and radioluminescence (RL) [7]
An optical fiber was fabricated from this sample and the Ce3+ presence was validated via PL measurements

Summary

Introduction

Since its discovery in 1895 by Wilhelm Röntgen and following research carried out by Henri Becquerel, Pierre and Marie Curie [1], finds a plethora of applications in medicine (diagnostic and treatment), nuclear power supply, fundamental research, industrial manufacturing, sterilization, non-destructive testing, food processing, etc. Cerium is a rare-earth element with the [Xe] 6s2 4f1 5d1 electronic configuration, that exists in different stable valence states (Ce3+ and Ce4+) These ions have attracted a lot of attention in glass and optical fibers manufacturing, due to their ability to make the glass matrix more resistant against ionizing radiation (notably γ-radiation [8,9,10], X-rays [11]). Ce-doped silica glasses are the subject of investigation for ionizing radiation dosimetry based on the Ce3+ ions luminescence properties [20]. For this particular application, the use of pure silica instead of multicomponent glasses presents a great advantage. The RL response of this fiber has been studied in a wide dose-rate range of X-rays

Materials and Methods

Findings

Conclusions