High radiation hardness of a hollow core photonic bandgap fiber

A 19-cell hollow core photonic bandgap fiber with a core diameter of 20μm and an attenuation minimum of about 11dB/km at 1590 nm was exposed to continuous
⁶⁰
Co gamma radiation and pulsed electrons up to dose values of 10
⁴
Gy and 100Gy, respectively. The attenuation increase during continuous or after pulsed irradiation was at least 30 times or 100 times lower, respectively, than observed with the best conventional single-mode fibers. Furthermore a slight reduction of the width of the transmission band after a total gamma dose of 1.4 • 10
⁵
Gy was observed.