Reliability of Optical Fiber Modulators for Space Flight Environments

Optical fiber modulators are of great interest to space flight projects for communications and LIDAR applications. Due to the harsh environments and long duration for most missions, space flight applications have a unique set of demands for photonics parts. This study focuses on the reliability of commercially available optical fiber modulators for space flight environments. General failures modes covered by the Telecordia standards are discussed as well as mitigation techniques for ground based systems. The failure modes that are beyond the mitigation of the Telecordia standards are included as well along with long term reliability and space flight environmental considerations towards the eventual implementation of these devices in space flight instrumentation. A survey of commercial devices was conducted and a single device was chosen based on the failure mode investigation and taking into account the general requirements of typical space flight components. The details for testing such a device for space flight are included here. Also included are innovative testing methods for making long term reliability assessments for these devices.