5 October, 2011

Draka, part of the Prysmian Group, introduced two new radiation hardened fibres with substantially improved performance, Super RadHard single-mode fibre (SRH-SMF) and Super RadHard multimode fibre (SRH-MMF). RadHard fibres are available as part of the Draka specialty fibres portfolio, within the DrakaElite family.

Draka SRH-SMF and SRH-MMF radiation hardened fibres are built using Fluorine as a dopant in the core region, replacing the Germanium used in previous versions of RadHard fibre. Fluorine greatly improves the radiation induced attenuation (RIA). For the SRH-MMF the refractive index profile still has graded-index design, combining high bandwidth (even during and after irradiative circumstances) with low radiation induced attenuation (RIA).

Draka regular RadHard fibre has been used in various irradiative environments. One showcase is CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva. Within CERN, Draka has installed over 1500 km of RH-SMF inside the LHC tunnel which has a length of 27 kilometres and is about 100 meters underground near the borders of France and Switzerland.

Both new Super RadHard fibres are aimed at special applications in high energy physics (such as CERN and ITER) as well as within the nuclear industry (uranium enrichment to recycling, Nuclear Power Plants, for example). In particular, in Nuclear Power Plant environments, successful tests have been competed at high dosage levels of 2MGy, showing excellent performance.