Abstract
Erbium-doped optical fibers open up many applications, especially in the field of terrestrial and underwater telecommunications, with optical amplifiers. Nowadays, there is a real interest for the space industry to use these fibers in satellites. However, in order to use their full potential, qualification in radiative environments is to be carried out, this is the main focus of this PhD work. Thanks to the partnership with Draka-Prysmian group, we have a full access to a large diversity of specialty fibers, in terms of chemical compositions : this allows us to study their sensitivity to radiations, and to determine the important role of dopants and co-dopants in this sensitivity. A real-time study of it, associated with a qualification of pristine and irradiated optical samples, enables the detection of radiation-induced defects, and the understanding of their creation process, as a function of the fiber structure. This study provides a physical model describing the degradation and the recovery of these fibers, enhanced with an amplifier modeling. It allows the prediction of the quantitative behavior of specialty fiber-based amplifiers, in terms of gain and bandwidth, versus the chemical composition of the fibers used, for a typical space mission dose ; thus this modeling meets the needs of the spatial market key actors. Furthermore, the benefit of this work opens up another avenues for some larger opportunities, in various radiative environments, such as the medical field or the areas of nuclear facilities.