The growth rate of fiber Bragg gratings written using 193 nm light from an ArF excimer laser is linearly proportional to the laser pulse energy density for fibers with high germanium doping but proportional to the square of the pulse energy density for standard telecommunications fibers with low germanium concentration. The two‐photon process in standard fibers yields refractive index increases that saturate around 10−3, an order of magnitude improvement over previous results in this type of fiber without sensitization treatment. The two types of photoinduced refractive index gratings have comparable thermal stability and preserve about 50% of their initial magnitude after 30 min at 600 °C. ©1995 American Institute of Physics.