Radiation-resistant erbium-doped silica fibre

It is shown that the service life of erbium-doped fibres can be increased many times under conditions of an elevated radiation level by loading the fibre glass network with molecular hydrogen. Backdiffusion of hydrogen from the fibre in the process of its operation is virtually excluded for the fibre covered with a hermetic carbon coating. It is shown that this technique of fibre preparation allows one to slow down significantly degradation of the lasing properties of erbium fibres under the conditions characteristic of space applications.