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.