Glass Structure Changes in CO$_{2}$-Laser Writing of Long-Period Fiber Gratings in Boron-Doped Single-Mode Fibers

Abstract

We investigate in detail the process of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -laser writing of long-period fiber gratings (LPFGs) in unannealed and annealed boron-doped fiber samples by using repeated scanning of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -laser pulses. We find that the writing dynamics depends strongly on the CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -laser energy density and the annealing temperature of the fiber. Our results from analyzing the writing dynamics reveal the relative importance of various physical effects arising from glass structure changes due to different writing conditions and thus provide a better understanding of the formation and the properties of CO <sub xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">2</sub> -laser written LPFGs.