Radiation Effects in Materials. Chapter 1: Effects of Electron Irradiation Upon Absorptive and Fluorescent Properties of Some Doped Optical Fibers

Abstract

A review of the recent studies of the effect of irradiating silica-based fibers doped with rare earths and metals by a beam of high-energy (β) electrons is presented. Of the review’s main scope are the attenuation spectra’ transformations occurring in optical fiber of such types under electron irradiation, allowing, from one side, to recover some general essence of the phenomena involved and, from the other side, to draw the features that would make such fibers useful for applications, for example, in dosimetry and space technologies. Among the fibers of the current review’s choice, exemplifying the effect of electron irradiation most brightly, are ytterbium (Yb) and cerium (Ce) (the rare earths’ representatives) and bismuth (Bi) (the post-transitional metals representative) doped fibers, where a diversity of the electron-irradiation-related effects is encouraged.