NSUF 26-5600: Coating vs. Dopant Effects on Optical Fiber Sensor Drift during High-Dose Neutron Irradiation
ORNL's Wire-21 experiment irradiated optical fiber samples to study sensor drift at high accumulated dose (~3E21 n/cm^2). The proposed work here is to study these optical fibers using non-destructive raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Raman spectroscopy will be used to determine if irradiation of the optical fiber coating creates a glassy carbon layer on the outer surface axially, SEM will be used to observe how well bonded the glassy carbon layer is to the glass of the optical fiber and EDS will be used to determine the extend of which dopant diffusion occurred in the samples from the core to the cladding inside the optical fiber glass structure. The anticipated outcome of this work is a better understanding of the extent to which coating effects and dopant diffusion cause sensor drift in optical fibers and optical fiber sensors. Understanding the fundamental mechanisms of sensor drift in optical fibers has tremendous impact on developing these sensors for use in commercial nuclear reactors, allowing breakthroughs in new sensor architectures and sensor materials that minimize drift. The current state-of-the knowledge for optical fiber sensors in radiation environment limits their unique capabilities (distributed sensing, minimally invasive etc.) to low dose applications. The success of this research will create new avenues to expand the use case of these sensors to more impactful areas for the nuclear industry, particularly high dose often seen in commercial nuclear applications.
Additional Info
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Awarded Institution | Idaho National Laboratory |
| DOI | 10.46936/NSUF/60017676 |
| Embargo End Date | 2028-04-22 |
| Facility Tech Lead | Kory Linton |
| NSUF Call | FY 2026 RTE 1st Call |
| PI | Charles Payne |
| PIE Facilities | Low Activation Materials Design and Analysis Laboratory |
| Prep Facilities | Irradiated Fuels Examination Laboratory |
| Project Member | Dr. Christian Petrie, Group Leader - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1167-3545) |
| Project Member | Dr. Austin Fleming, Research Scientist - Idaho National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6801-5028) |
| Project Member | Mr. Charles Payne, Nuclear Instrumentation Engineer - Idaho National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6146-1395) |
| Project Member | Dr. Bryan Conry - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3608-9604) |
| Project Member | Dr. Daniel Sweeney, R&D Staff - Oak Ridge National Laboratory (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1289-1627) |
| Project Type | RTE |