The photoelectric properties of cotton fibers treated with iodine were studied in the fundamental absorption range. The samples exhibit a sublinear illumination-current characteristic and a long-term relaxation of photoconductivity (PC) after UV irradiation (hnu = 5 eV) of the iodine-doped fibers. A PC mechanism is proposed which explains both the nonlinear variation of photocurrent with illumination intensity and the PC decay according to a bimolecular recombination law after UV irradiation of the iodine-doped fiber in the fundamental absorption range. (C) 2002 MAIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".