Radiation hardness qualification of InGaAsP/InP 1310-nm lasers for the CMS tracker optical links

The series of validation tests for radiation hardness qualification of lasers for use in 46 000 optical links of the CMS Tracker detector at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland, are presented. These tests included accelerated radiation damage, annealing, and aging studies, simulating the effect of doses and fluences, up to 2 x 1014 particles/cm(2) and 100 kGy, accumulated over a ten-year operating lifetime. The worst-case damage effect, in lasers operating closest to the beam-collision point, is expected to be a threshold current increase of under 6 mA. The lasers tested therefore qualify as being sufficiently radiation hard. The qualification tests also form the basis of future radiation hardness assurance of lasers during final production. An advance validation test of lasers from candidate wafers is defined that will confirm the radiation hardness of lasers before a large number of transmitters are assembled from these wafers.