Radiation-induced attenuation self-compensating effect in super-fluorescent fiber source

Abstract

The compact super-fluorescent fiber source (SFS) output spectra variations at different pump currents and under different dose of gamma-ray radiation were measured and compared respectively. The radiation-induced attenuation (RIA) self-compensating effect in SFS based on photo-bleaching was found and the general mathematic model of SFS output spectra variations was made. The radiation-induced background attenuation (RIBA) at the pump wavelength was identified to be the main cause of the total output power and spectra variations and the variations can then be compensated by active control of the pump power to enhance the self-compensating effect. With closed-loop feedback control of pump current, double-pass backward (DPB) configuration and spectrum re-shaping technology, an SFS prototype was made and tested. The mean-wavelength stability of about 87.4 ppm and output power instability of less than 5% were achieved under up to 200 krad (Si) gamma-ray irradiation.