Optical Fiber Sensors in Extreme Temperature and Radiation Environments: A Review

This paper presents a comprehensive review of optical fiber sensors (OFSs), including FBG, distributed optical fiber sensor and Fabry-Perot interferometer, and their applications within harsh environments, which include extremely high temperatures (from 275 degrees C to 1750 degrees C) and low temperatures (from -271.15 degrees C to -40 degrees C, namely cryogenic conditions: from 2 K to 233.15 K), and high levels of ionizing radiation (with a maximum gamma dose up to 2 GGy, and a maximum neutron fluence of approximately 5 x 10(19) n/cm(2)). After a brief introduction of the principles of OFSs and mechanisms of interrogation, this paper focuses on the existing works for the above three operating environments. Attention have been paid to material selection for fabricating fibers, effects of doping with rare earth elements, femtosecond laser engraving, pre-processing and post-processing (i.e., annealing) that are employed to overcome issues faced by OFSs in extreme temperatures and radiation environments. Application examples and practical test cases are also presented. Through these examples, the limitations in the current state-of-the-art are acknowledged and the key problems are identified. Potential solutions to some of these problems are also elucidated. A feature of this paper is the amalgamation of many research methodologies and outcomes in three seemingly distinct environmental conditions in one place so that different solution techniques can be integrated to advance OFS technologies, especially for extreme environment applications.