Development of high power photoactive Erbium and Erbium-Ytterbium doped fibers for ultra-fast satellite telecommunications

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The main objective of this three-year project is to extend the operation lifetime and performance of Erbium/Ytterbium-Doped Fibre Amplifiers (EDFA/YDFAs) used for 100 Gbps throughput in telecommunication satellites. The proposed research is divided into two complementary approaches: one aiming to implement an optical regeneration process based on photo-bleaching to recover optical gain in EDFA/YDFAs exposed to gamma radiations, while the second is to retrieve some of the energy used during their operation using thermo-electric (TE) coating layers for dissipating excessive heating and partially convert it into electricity. Our activities will be conducted in partnership with two companies from the Montréal area: MPB Technologies, which designs and manufactures compact equipment and instruments for space applications, and Pi-SOL Technologies, which develops thermoelectric Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 nanomaterials for energy conversion. Two academic partners will be involved: Prof. Federico Rosei (INRS) who will perform advanced characterization and develop efficient TE coating layers as well as the parametric investigation of the photo-bleaching process to better understand laser/matter and radiation/matter interactions, and Dr. Cornelia Chilian (SLOWPOKE laboratory, Polytechnique Montréal), who is in charge of irradiation experiments will be performed. Our research activities include the use of various sealed gamma sources and a 20 kW neutron reactor at low doses rate of 100 krad/year to reproduce space conditions. Our ultimate goal is to develop efficient solutions and/or mitigation strategies to simulate harsh environments, which enter within the feasibility parameters of our industrial partners for direct implementation in satellites and space crafts.