Spectral behaviour of bismuth centres in different steps of the FCVD process

The behaviour of bismuth ions in silica glass free of other dopants has been studied in different steps of the furnace chemical vapour deposition (FCVD) process. Porous layers annealed and consolidated in different atmospheres, a bismuth chloride solution in acetone for porous layer impregnation, the resultant glass preform and holey fibres drawn out under various conditions have been characterised by spectroscopic techniques and X-ray diffraction. Active bismuth centres present in the preform and luminescing in the visible and IR spectral regions persist during drawing under reducing conditions, whereas drawing under oxidising conditions eliminates such centres. Annealing under reducing conditions produces absorption bands of IR-emitting bismuth centres (IRBCs) in spectra of fibres drawn out under oxidising conditions and concurrently increases the background loss. Under the annealing conditions of this study (argon atmosphere, T_max = 1100 °C, 30 min), the IRBC concentration reaches a maximum and then decreases, whereas the background loss increases monotonically.