Prediction of corning InfiniCor 300 optical fiber attenuation at low gamma dose rates

Experiments using dose rates of 40 and 1270 rads/min from Co-60 and dual optical wavelengths, 850 and 1310 nm, are conducted to estimate fiber optic attenuation at other dose rates using low order kinetics models. The irradiation-induced attenuation is fit to power and saturating exponential models. The 1310 nm data exhibit a linearly increasing term with the saturating exponential whereas the 850 nm results do not. Representation of the long-term low-dose-rate induced attenuation is an impetus for developing a difference equation fitting routine that better characterizes the signal loss and has the capability of predicting the attenuation at saturation. Index Terms--Gamma-ray effects, optical fiber cables, optical fiber radiation effects, photon radiation effects.