Absence of UV-induced stress in Bragg gratings recorded by high-intensity 264 nm laser pulses in a hydrogenated standard telecom fiber.

We report on photochemical two-photon Bragg grating preparation in hydrogenated fiber without any UV-induced stress in the core or cladding, leaving only the color-center model responsible for refractive index changes for UV femtosecond irradiation. Without hydrogen loading strong stress changes are observed in the core and in the cladding indicating glass compaction. The irradiation does not change the inelastic strains, in contrast to H(2)-loading.

Two-photon photochemical long-period grating fabrication in pure-fused-silica photonic crystal fiber.

We report what is to our knowledge the first photochemical fabrication of a long-period grating in a pure-fused-silica photonic crystal fiber. The inscription technique is based on a two-photon absorption mechanism and does not require a specially designed photonic crystal fiber with a photosensitive Ge-doped core. The characteristic fluence value for the inscription is an order of magnitude less than that for a standard telecom fiber irradiated under similar conditions with the same grating parameters.

Strong long-period fiber gratings recorded at 352 nm.

We describe long-period grating inscription in hydrogenated telecom fibers by use of high-intensity femtosecond 352 nm laser pulses. We show that this technique allows us to fabricate high-quality 30 dB gratings of 300 microm period and 2 cm length by use of a three-photon absorption mechanism.

Inscription of fiber Bragg gratings by ultraviolet femtosecond radiation.

We report on what is to our knowledge the first fabrication of fiber Bragg gratings by UV femtosecond radiation. The Bragg gratings, with photoinduced refractive-index modulation up to 1.92 x 10(-3) in H2-loaded SMF-28 and up to 1.05 x 10(-3) in Nufern GF1 fibers, were written by high-intensity (31-77-GW/cm2) femtosecond pulses at 264 nm. The dependence of the refractive-index modulation on intensity at equal fluences points to a two-photon absorption mechanism for grating inscription.

Femtosecond measurements of two-photon absorption coefficients at lambda = 264 nm in glasses, crystals, and liquids.

Using ultraviolet femtosecond pulses with high irradiance stability, we measured the two-photon absorption (TPA) coefficients in a number of substances with a total accuracy of approximately 10%. Six commercial fused-silica samples (KU-1, Coming 7940, SQ, Suprasil, Herasil, and Infrasil) possess TPA coefficients (beta values) of approximately 2 x 10(-11) cm/W. For crystalline quartz and sapphire, the following beta values were obtained: (1.2 +/- 0.2) x 10(-11) and (9.4 +/- 1.2) x 10(-11) cm/W, respectively. In beta-barium borate crystal the TPA coefficient depends on crystal cut, beam polarization, or both and varies from (47 +/- 5) x 10(-11) to (68 +/- 6) x 10(-11) cm/W. For eight liquids that were studied (water, heavy water, ethanol, methanol, hexane, cyclohexane, 1,2-dichloroethane, and chloroform) the beta value lies from (34 +/- 3) x 10(-11) to (95 +/- 11) x 10(-11) cm/W.