Comparison of simulated and experimental results for distributed radiation-induced absorption measurement using OFDR reflectometry

In this paper we present results of computer simulation of the Optical Frequency Domain Reflectometry system used for measuring distributed radiation-induced absorption. We simulated conditions of an experiment in which a highly radiation sensitive optical fibre doped with aluminium was exposed to gamma-radiation. The total exposed dose was about 50 kGy. We measured two backscattering profiles of the fibre network before and right after irradiation to estimate the induced change of the trace slope which in case of optical fibre dosimetry is used for total dose estimation. Then we simulated this experiment using a MATLAB model imitating an optical fibre backscattering profile. The simulation was based on the operational principles of the OFDR system and imitated its measurement algorithm. As a result of simulation we obtained two backscattering traces which were in good conformity with those measured in the real-life experiment. To our knowledge, this is the first time that distributed measurement of radiation-induced absorption using optical frequency domain reflectometry has been simulated.