Effect of femtosecond photo-treatment on inscription of fiber Bragg gratings.

Pre- and post-treatment of optical fibers is typically used to improve the fiber Bragg grating (FBG) fabrication process. Here, we investigate experimentally the effects of femtosecond photo-treatment on the ability to inscribe and erase FBGs in standard, non-sensitized, silica SMF fibers. We observe "immunity" to inscription after applying a suitable pre-treatment to the fiber and full "erasure" of the FGB after applying a suitable post-treatment. We characterize the required photo-treatment parameters and compare to FBG inscription on an untreated fiber. We believe that pre/post-photo-treatment of the fibers with fs pulses may have practical advantages such as modifying standard grating structures or observing ultrafast transient effects more clearly.