Effect of CO2 laser irradiation on the refractive-index change in optical fibers

The effect of CO2 laser irradiation on the refractive-index change in optical fibers is investigated by measuring the interference fringe shift formed by a long-period fiber grating pair. The refractive-index decrease on CO2 laser irradiation was due to relaxation of the residual stress, which was formed in optical fibers during the drawing process, and the refractive-index decrease was found to increase linearly with the drawing force. The effect of the CO2 laser output power on residual-stress relaxation, and fiber elongation was also studied. (C) 2002 Optical Society of America.