UV-photoinduced defects in Ge-doped optical fibers

We investigated the effect of continuous-wave (cw) UV laser radiation on single-mode Ge-doped H/sub 2/-loaded optical fibers. An innovative technique was developed to measure the optical absorption (OA) induced in the samples by irradiation, and to study its dependence from laser fluence. The combined use of the electron spin resonance (ESR) technique allowed the structural identification of several radiation-induced point defects, among which the Ge(1) (GeO/sub 4/) is found to be responsible of induced OA in the investigated spectral region.