Fabrication/characterization of fiber gratings and photosensitivity in Ge-free Bi-Al-silica fibers

Refractive index changes up to 2.5 × 10 −3 were demonstrated in H 2 -loaded germanium free Bi-Al-doped silica fibers using both ArF excimer and cw-Ar + -244 nm lasers. Tensile stress changes indicate clear contribution of compaction to the total index change.