Radiation effects on radiation-hardened KU and KS-4V optical fibres

The aim of this work was to test the un-pretreated and the hardened (H2-loaded and pre-irradiated) KS-4V and KU optical fibres in reactor environment by in-situ measurements of both the radiation-induced loss and the luminescence in the visible spectral region. Both the radio-luminescent and the transmission spectra were in-situ detected during irradiation by charge-coupled-device (CCD) linear detector in the visible spectral region of 400 to 700 nm. The radiation induced loss spectra at the fast neutron fluence of 2*106 n/cm2 shows the hardened, H2-loading and pre-irradiating effects in the both KU and KS-4V fibres. KU un-pretreated fibre shows a big radiation absorption band of non-bridging oxygen centered at the wavelength of 630 nm. It appears that the KS-4V hardened fibre has a specific point in the loss spectrum in the vicinity of 460 nm. Other measurements were performed, particularly after reactor shutdown and at 3 different neutron fluences with constant neutron flux after restarting