Quality Assurance Programme for the Environmental Testing of the CMS Tracker Optical Links

The QA programme is reviewed for the environmental compliance tests of commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components for the CMS Tracker Optical link system. These environmental tests will take place in the pre-production and final production phases of the project and will measure radiation resistance, component lifetime, and sensitivity to magnetic fields. The evolution of the programme from small-scale prototype tests to the final pre-production manufacturing tests is outlined and the main environmental effects expected for optical links operating within the Tracker are summarised. A special feature of the environmental QA programme is the plan for Advance Validation Tests (AVT's) developed in close collaboration with the various industrial partners. AVT procedures involve validation of a relatively small set of basic samples in advance of the full production of the corresponding batch of devices. Only those lots that have been confirmed as sufficiently rad-tolerant will be purchased and used in the final production.