Journal of Undergraduate Research
Contributor(s)
Tiankuan Liu (Faculty Advisor), Jingbo Ye (Faculty Advisor)
Publication Date
2011
Abstract
My research seeks to identify optical fibers capable of operating in an environment with radiation and low temperatures. This study is for an international detector R&D project which is for the high luminosity upgrade of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Switzerland. In high energy particle physics experiments, silicon pixel detectors, often called inner trackers, are used to precisely measure the trajectories of charged particles. The Inner Trackers for both the ATLAS and the CMS, two of the four large experiments at the LHC, operate in high radiation environment and in an ambient temperature of -20 to -30°C to reduce thermo noise for the silicon sensors. These Inner Trackers will need to be upgraded when the Hadron collider is upgraded for high luminosity (intensity), which will mean high radiation levels for the silicon sensors and readout electronics in which fiber optics are used. To identify fibers that are suitable for these readout systems, we irradiate them and measure the radiation induced attenuation as a function of total dose delivered to the fibers. In this R&D project, I am constructing a test setup that will be used to irradiate optical fibers using a Co-60 source at the Brookhaven National Lab next February. During that irradiation test, we will study radiation induced optical attenuation. My responsibility in this research work is to construct the temperature controlled chamber and to monitor the temperature using the PT100 resistance-thermometers that are known to be radiation resistant. My work about calibrating the PT100 sensors, the design and construction of the chamber, and the final irradiation tests on the fibers and the experimental results will be presented. My research contributes to collaboration with the Fermi National Laboratory (USA), Oxford University (UK) and CERN (Switzerland), and my experience of working in such an international collaborative environment will also be discussed.
Document Type
Conference Proceeding
Keywords
radiation, temperature, fibers
School or Division
Dedman College of Humanities & Sciences, Physics Department
Disciplines
Physics
Extent
9 pages
Format
Source
Tassie, Nnadozie, "The Effects of Radiation and Low Temperatures on Optical Fibers" (2011). Proceedings of the National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2011.
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Tassie, Nnadozie, "The Effects of Radiation and Low Temperatures on Optical Fibers" (2011). Proceedings of the National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2011.
