Drawing induced absorption loss in multicomponent glass fibres

A drawing induced loss has been found to exist in multicomponent glass optical fibres, and has been shown to be due to absorption. Two loss peaks were identified at 580 and 360 nm with peak heights of 340 and 490 dBkm^?1, respectively. The 580 nm peak was believed to be due to silicon oxygen hole centres formed during fibre drawing. The induced loss could be partially removed by annealing, and the behaviour of the induced loss under various heat treatments was investigated. It was also found that the loss could be completely eliminated by the addition of 0.1 wt% As₂O₃ to the glass melt.