Electron induced scintillation testing of commercially available optical fibers for space flight

Abstract

A test to verify the performance of several commercial and military optical fibers available on the market today was conducted, via usage of an electron accelerator, to monitor radiation induced scintillation or luminescence. The test results showed that no significant effects could be detected with the PMT (Photomultiplier Tube) system used, above a noise floor of 50 photons/sec that were due to optical fiber scintillation. Although some data appeared to show events taking place, noise scan results have correlated these events to arcing inside the electron accelerator facility. This test was to simply characterize for space flight, which optical fiber candidates were the largest scintillators among the eighteen optical fiber candidates tested.