Contact microradiography characterization of doped optical fibers

摘要

The doping of the core of an optical fiber may be precisely characterized by cutting sample slices of the fiber by means of a focused ion beam (FIB) machine and by carrying out a contact radiography of the slices using a soft X-ray source. Maps of the distribution of the dopant ions in the glassy matrix of the optical fiber's core may be obtained by analyzing the contact radiographies at the electronic or atomic force microscope. A dopant concentration value per unit length of fiber may be determined by interpolating the results over a plurality of slices of different thicknesses.