INFLUENCE OF HYDROGEN ON THE COLOR-CENTER FORMATION IN OPTICAL FIBERSINDUCED BY PULSED UV-LASER RADIATION - PART 1 - ALL SILICA FIBERS WITH HIGH-OH UNDOPED CORE
P. Karlitschek et al., INFLUENCE OF HYDROGEN ON THE COLOR-CENTER FORMATION IN OPTICAL FIBERSINDUCED BY PULSED UV-LASER RADIATION - PART 1 - ALL SILICA FIBERS WITH HIGH-OH UNDOPED CORE, Optics communications, 155(4-6), 1998, pp. 376-385
Creation of colour centers in fused silica fibers is the main problem
during transmission of high-power UV-laser radiation, that leads to so
larization and hence decreasing transmission. By loading commercial fu
sed silica fibers with hydrogen, we found a way to improve the transmi
ssion properties through the reduction or suppression of solarization.
The transmission behaviour of hydrogen loaded high-OH fibers for 266
nm pulsed laser radiation has been studied. Spectroscopic experiments
explain many aspects of colour center creation and annealing and allow
the determination of kinetic data for the underlying reactions. Based
on this work it is possible to realize fiber optic beam delivery syst
ems for frequency quadrupled Nd:YAG lasers and for other high power UV
laser sources like excimer-lasers. These results may also be useful f
or the improvement of bulk fused silica for UV applications. (C) 1998
Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.