Compact and Reliable Radiation Hardened High Power Optical Amplifier for Aerospace Environment

The objective of this Phase II proposal is to continue R&D effort for development of state-of-the-art radiation hardened High Power Optical Amplifier (HPOA) technology with strong commercial potential. Based on the proposed innovative technology, we also propose to manufacture eight prototypes of novel reliable HPOA modules operating over broad ranges of temperatures (i.e. from -40 to +80 0C) and harsh radiation environment (i.e. total dose of 300krads with a rate of 10 to 100 rad/min). The proposed eye-safe HPOAs (e.g. output power of 500mW-5W) are designed to operate over 1520nm-1570nm window with a gain flatness of 10X under the Phase II effort. In addition, Al/PolyRADTM packaging has been modeled and designed to meet the radiation shield specs. As preliminary results, we confirmed that 1 and 2mm of Al/PolyRADTM shielding provide 5X and 10X radiation blocking power for various orbital radiations. Thus, developed radiation hardened fiber with 2mm Al/PolyRADTM shield is projected to show only <0.05dB/m loss degradation over 10 years. The projected dimensions and weight of the proposed HPOA-D1 and HPOA-D2 are of 20x12x2cm3 and 840gram, and 15x12x2cm3 and 580gram, respectively.