The Effect of Gamma Dose Rate on Polarization-maintaining Fibres in Fibre Optic Gyroscopes on Spacecraft

摘要

Optical fibres are currently being used for spacecraft systems as an essential component of fibre optic gyroscopes. This paper investigates the radiation effects on polarization maintaining fibre up to a total dose of 730 Gy. Comparisons are made between normal polarization maintaining fibre, pure silicon polarization maintaining fibre and photonic crystal polarization maintaining fibre test results. Results indicate that fibre gyros utilizing the pure silicon fibre will survive the long term radiation environment in space. Photonic crystal fibre shows a more complex behaviour with higher radiation induced attenuation level than expected from the pure silicon fibre structure.