With the use of fiber lasers pervading diverse applications and environmental conditions, the long-term reliability of low index (LI) polymer coated double-clad (DC) fibers used for this purpose is significant. Mechanical reliability standards for 125um fibers are well established by Telcordia GR-20-CORE requirements and some work1 has been published investigating optical reliability of DC fibers with specially engineered coatings with respect to accelerated temperature and humidity aging. While these are helpful in providing a figure of merit to the optical reliability of LI fluoroacrylate coatings, it becomes important to decouple the effects of temperature and humidity in order to understand the underlying degradation mechanisms of LI polymers in various storage and operating environments. This paper identifies the effects of temperature and humidity on the spectral attenuation of DC fibers and presents a reliability model capable of predicting lifetimes under prolonged exposure to typical temperature and humidity conditions experienced during storage and operation of fiber lasers.

Date Published: 15 April 2015
PDF: 13 pages
Proc. SPIE 9344, Fiber Lasers XII: Technology, Systems, and Applications, 934415 (15 April 2015); doi: 10.1117/12.2080855

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9344:
Fiber Lasers XII: Technology, Systems, and Applications
L. Brandon Shaw, Editor(s)