Radiation-resistant low OH content silica core fibers

The radiation-induced attenuation of pure silica core fibers measured at 0.85 μm has been reduced by treating the soot preforms in various oxidizing atmospheres; the most effective of the treatments used in this study was SOCl
2
. Fibers treated in SOCl
2
or Cl
2
also have low OH contents. The radiation-induced loss of the treated fibers has been found to follow the square root of the drawing-induced absorption band height at 0.63μm.