A novel Lab-on-Fiber Radiation Dosimeter for Ultra-high Dose Monitoring

Abstract

In this work, we report on the first demonstration of Lab on Fiber (LOF) dosimeter for ionizing radiation monitoring at ultra-high doses. The new dosimeter consists in a metallo-dielectric resonator at sub-wavelength scale supporting localized surface plasmon resonances realized on the optical fiber (OF) tip. The resonating structure involves two gold gratings separated by a templated dielectric layer of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). Two LOF prototypes have been manufactured and exposed at the IRRAD Proton Facility at CERN in Geneva to 23 GeV protons for a total fluence of 0.67 × 1016 protons/cm2, corresponding to an absorbed dose of 1.8 MGy. Experimental data demonstrated the “radiation resistance” feature of the LOF devices and a clear dependence of the reflected spectrum versus the total dose, expressed by a cumulative blue-shift of ~1.4 nm of the resonance combined with a slight increase of 0.16 dBm in the reflected spectrum. The numerical analysis carried out to correlate the experimental results with the dimensional and physical properties of the resonator, expected to be tightly connected to the absorbed dose, suggests that the main phenomenon induced by exposure to proton beam and able to explain the measured spectral behavior is the reduction of the PMMA thickness, which is also consistent with past literature in the field. Preliminary results demonstrated the potentiality of the proposed platform as dosimeter at MGy dose levels for high energy physics experiments.

Radiation Effects on Long Period Fiber Gratings: A Review

“…Until now, the most part of the studies targeted optical fibers, by mainly focusing on their radiation induced attenuation. Different fiber compositions (e.g., with Ge, B, F, Er, Al, P, Ce, Yb) were considered in order to assess the dependence of the response upon the dopant ions, and tested under different radiation conditions (transient, steady state, pulsed) and types (gamma, X-rays, neutrons, protons and so on) [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. Micro-structured [26][27][28][29] and polymeric optical fibers [30,31] were also considered for the testing of radiation hardened devices and dosimeters, respectively.…”

Visible colorimetric dosimetry of UV and ionizing radiations by a dual-module photochromic nanocluster

“…The dose range of Th-SINAP-100 is comparable to commercialized radiochromic film dosimeter GEX B3 and among one the highest of all dosimeters 13 , 39 . This feature makes Th-SINAP-100 particularly suitable for high dose (kGy level) monitoring in diverse fields including synchrotron radiation monitoring, food irradiation, medical sterilization, and radiodegradation 40 , 41 . The operation ranges of metal-ion-doped inorganic dosimeters, e.g., Ag-doped phosphate glass and Mg 2+ -doped LiF (LiF:Mg), are saturated at relatively low dose due to their limited number of PL metal centers 42 .…”

Visible Colorimetric Dosimetry of UV and Ionizing Radiations by a Dual-Module Photochromic Nanocluster

“…13,39 This feature makes Th-SINAP-100 particularly suitable for high dose (kGy level) monitoring in diverse elds including synchrotron radiation monitoring, food processing, radiodegration, and medical sterilization. 40,41 The operation ranges of tranditional metal-ion-doped inorganic dosimeters, e.g. Ag-doped phosphate glass and Mg 2+doped LiF (LiF:Mg), are saturated at realatively low dose due to their limited number of PL metal centers.…”