Abstract

Ge-doped silica optical fibers usually show an absorption band centered at 240 nm. This band is bleached upon exposure to ultraviolet light of the same wavelength.¹ This bleaching leads to a permanent refractive index change, affecting the fiber at much longer wavelengths than is now routinely used to write photoinduced refractive index gratings in the fiber core. We report two experiments on the dynamics and orientational behavior of the UV-induced bleaching.

© 1993 Optical Society of America