Optical glass materials are damaged due to irradiation. The objective of this activity was to establish a suitable experimental and theoretical basis for the application of Dose-Coefficients as a performance parameter in the testing and qualification of optical glasses for use in a space radiation environment. The authors have measured the radiation induced wavefront aberrations in samples of the following commercial glasses: LaK9, LaK9G15, BK7, BK7G15, BK7G2S and Fused Silica. A differential experimental technique was used in order to detect the very small effects as predicted by the theory. The dose dependence of the refractive index changes that they have measured, is linear. This provides confirmation of the Dose-Coefficient approach. Based on the experimental data it was shown that radiation induced aberrations (such as defocussing) in a typical space optical system can be estimated to be significant for even a relatively low total dose of several hundred kRad. It was also concluded that, contrary to the general expectation, radiation hardness based only on component spectral transmittances is insufficient to fully qualify radiation stability of high resolution optical systems.
Assessment of dose-coefficients as a performance parameter for optical glasses in a space radiation environment
Auswertung von Dosis-Koeffizienten als Leistungsparameter von optischen Gläsern für den Einsatz in einer Weltall-Bestrahlungs-Umgebung
1997
10 Seiten, 7 Bilder, 1 Tabelle, 22 Quellen
Conference paper
English
British Library Online Contents | 1997
|Performance of Optical Fibers in Space Radiation Environment
British Library Conference Proceedings | 2006
|Radiation Degradation Behaviour of Glasses and Polymers in Simulated Space Environment
SAE Technical Papers | 1994
|Radiation Dose Prediction for Space Station
SAE Technical Papers | 1986
|