Long-term reliability of pure silica core single-mode fiber when exposed to high-power laser light

The reliability of a pure silica core single-mode fiber with long-term exposure to continuous wave (CW) high-power laser light is reported. It is found that the optical loss in the 0.6-1.6-μm region and the Raman spectrum remain unchanged after 1900 h of exposure to 8-W CW laser light at 1.48 μm. The nonbridging oxygen hole center concentration generated by 1900 h of exposure is estimated to be below our detection limit of 2×10/sup 12/ cm/sup -3/.