Tag: Multimode fiber

A Comparison Of Multimode And Single Mode Cables

Over the past few years, fiber optic cable has become more affordable and widely used. Fiber is ideal for high data-rate systems such as FDDI, multimedia, ATM, or any other network that requires the transfer of large, time-consuming data files. And the basic cables are multimode optic cable and single mode fiber.

A Comparison Of Multimode Cables And Single Mode Cables

Multimode cables have a larger core diameter than that of singlemode cables. This larger core diameter allows multiple pathways and several wavelengths of light to be transmitted. Singlemode Duplex cables and Singlemode Simplex cables have a smaller core diameter and only allow a single wavelength and pathway for light to travel. Multimode fiber is commonly used in patch cable applications such as fiber to the desktop or patch panel to equipment. Multimode fiber is available in two sizes, 50 micron and 62.5 micron. Singlemode fiber is typically used in network connections over long lengths and is available in a core diameter of 9 microns (8.3 microns to be exact).

Most building cables had 62.5/125 micron multimode fibers for LANs or security systems, while outside plant cables were all single-mode fiber. For some time, we have been encouraging people to install hybrid cables with both multimode fibers for today and single-mode fibers for the future regardless of the fiber optic cable price.

If you are transmitting from a smaller fiber core to a larger one, it is not a problem since the larger fiber like large core optical fiber will collect all the light from the smaller one with minimal loss. But if you transmit light from a larger fiber to a smaller one, the light in the larger core will overfill the smaller core and large losses will occur. How big are the losses we are talking about? Coupling a multimode fiber to a single-mode fiber will cause about 20 dB loss. Connecting a 62.5 fiber to a 50 micron core fiber will cause 2 to 4 dB loss, depending on the type of source (laser or LED). In any case, it can be enough loss to prevent network equipment from working properly.

Both 50 micron and 62.5 micron multimode fibers have the same cladding diameter and can use the same connectors and termination processes, but testing still requires using the correct matching fiber optics patch cords or the measured loss will be too low by a few tenths of a dB in one direction (50 to 62.5), or 2 to 4 dB too high the other way (62.5 to 50.)

Needless to say, these mismatched fiber losses affect the end user the same way they affect the installer, creating excess connection loss that can cause systems to malfunction or have high error rates, causing an expensive and annoying service call. Unfortunately, there is no optical mating adapter that will match two dissimilar fibers—although it has been tried many times. There is no solution other than preventing mismatched fiber terminations.

Fiber Optic Cables Bring Great Communication Services

Fiber optic technology has paved the way for a new type of technology and its effects on home services. Everything from TV, phone, and even internet services have been positively altered due to the advancements brought on by fiber optic technology. With internet services in particular, this new form of connection allows for the internet to go in a direction that it has not always been able to go. Fiber Optic Internet is a step forward toward an unstoppable internet connection.

Optical communication motivation began with the invention of the laser in the early 1960s. Since then, the technology has evolved at the speed of light. Optical technology has advanced so fast that it has become the information conduit of the world. The transmission of data, voice and media is distributed at the speed of light over a mesh of glass fibers that span thousands of kilometers throughout the world. Fiber optic cables have developed to various types, mutimode fiber cable and single mode fiber cable are the basical one.

Multimode fiber allows multiple rays/modes to couple and propagate down the fiber at the same time. Large core fiber is attractive due to the ease in which light can be coupled into the fiber, greatly reducing transmitter design and packaging costs. Multimode fiber is sensitive to dispersion, which tends to limit an optical system’s distance and bandwidth. Multimode fiber can be stepped-refractive-index-profile, or graded-index-profile. While, single-mode fiber has an advantage of higher capacity/bandwidth and is also much less sensitive to the effects of dispersion than multimode fiber. It is also possible to incorporate wavelength division multiplexing techniques to further increase the transmission capacity of a single-mode fiber.

Fiber Optic Internet creates a different kind of online user experience as compared to other types of connections. No longer do users worry about losing connectivity during operations because of the quality of the transmission. Fiber optic technology also allows users to eliminate waiting for pages to load, messages to send, and images to appear. An overall more comfortable surfing experience is provided by fiber optic technology. With the increased popularity of social media sites and live content sites, a fiber optic connection allows users to more completely engage and interact. This type of internet connection is more able to meet the increasing demands of today’s internet-heavy society.

All fiber optic cable manufacturers diverse fiber cables but their item literatures should be cautiously studied so as to assess which variety of fiber cables they specialize in. Want to buy fiber optic cable, recommend you FiberStore, who provdes really high quality cables with reasonable price.

Exploring the Anatomy of A Fiber Optic Cable

What’s really inside a fiber optic cable? That’s a question that most customers of fiber optic cable suppliers want to know. Fiber optic is the communications medium that works by sending optical signals down hair-thin strands of extremely pure glass or plastic fiber. Fiber optic cables are capable of carrying high volume of data over long distances. This article is written to take a peek inside fiber optic cables. Starting at the center and working our way outside.

A standard fiber optic cable is comprised of four specific parts:
Core: A fiber optic’s center is made of glass, and this tube carries the cable’s light signals. Depending on the type of fiber optic cable (single more of multimode), the core varies in size. Single mode fibers consist of a tiny glass core that typically has a diameter between 8.3 and 10 microns. This type of cable is used for telephone and CATV with laser sources at 1300 and 1550nm because it has a lower loss and virtually infinite bandwidth. For multi mode fibers, the core is larger. Their core size ranges from 5 to 7 times larger than a single mode core. With a diameter ranging between 50 to 62.5 microns,it supports the transmission of multiple mode (rays) of light and perfect for high data applications. Multimode is generally used with LED source at wavelengths of 850 and 1300nm for slower local area networks (LANs) and lasers at 850 (VCSELs) and 1310nm (Fabry-Perot lasers) for networks running at gigabyte per seconds or more. Multi mode cables are typically used over shorter distances than single mode fiber optic cables.
Cladding layer: The core is surrounded by an optical material called the “cladding” that traps the light in the core using an optical technique called “total internal reflection.” When transmitting data (especially over long distances), light rays can reflect off each other and travel in different directions. The cladding keeps those signals straight.Buffer: Buffer is made to protect fiber from moisture and physical damage. The buffer is what one strips off the fiber for termination or splicing. More often than not, the buffer is made of
Plastic.

Jacket: The fiber optic’s cable exterior is typically made of tough, durable polyurethane. Its job is to protect the overall integrity of the fiber optic cable. The jacket is the first line of defense in a fiber optic cable. Routing cables can put stresses on a fiber optic cable and a jacket sometimes contains an extra layer to avoid these potential hazards.

Water Barrier: Common water barriers for ordinary cable include: an axially laid aluminum foil/polyethylene laminated film immediately inside the polyurethane of polyethylene plastic sheaths;
and/or the use of moisture resistant compounds around the fibers.
If you’d like to purchase or know more informations on fiber optic cable price per foot, you can feel free to contact fiberstore customer service team at sales@fiberstore.com

FAQs Before Buying Fiber Optic Cable

Fiber optic cable is a large, long-distance optical signal transmission unit, by means of which we can spread out the various optical signals with low attenuation rate to meet signals transmission needs between different fields. There are more than 15.000 varieties of fiber optic cables in the telecommunication field. Choosing the right fiber optic cable is extremely important for any installation. Purpose of the cable is to protect the fibers during installation and the service lifetime. This article is written to address your concerns regarding what types of fibers do you need, where they will be installed, and where to buy fiber optic cable.

fiber optic cable

What Types of Optical Fiber Should I Choose and How Many Fibers?

It may be familiar for you that optical fibers are divided into two different mode which is multimode and single mode.

Single mode fiber has a core that is 8.3 microns in diameter. Single-mode fiber requires laser technology for sending and receiving data. With a laser used, light in a single mode fiber also refracts off the fiber cladding. Single-mode has the ability to carry a signal for mile, making it ideal for telephone and cable television on providers.

Multimode fiber, as the name suggests, permits the signals to travel in multiple modes, or pathways, along the insides of the glass strand or core. It is available with fiber core diameters of 62.5 and a slightly smaller 50 micron. 62.5 micron multimode is referred to as OM1. 50-micron fiber is referred to as OM2, OM3, and the recently added OM4. OM4 has greater bandwidth than OM3 and OM3 has greater bandwidth than OM2.

While single mode fiber has a core that is 8.3 microns in diameter. Single-mode fiber requires laser technology for sending and receiving data. With a laser used, light in a single-mode fiber also refracts off the fiber cladding. Single-mode has the ability to carry a signal for mile, making it ideal for telephone and cable television on providers. 50-micron OM3 fiber is designed to accommodate 10 Gigabit Ethernet up to 300 meters, and OM4 can accommodate it up to 550 meters. Therefore, OM3 and OM4 fiber are always chosen over the other glass types. In fact, nearly 80% of 50-micro fiber sold is OM3 or OM4

Except for the fiber mode, the number of fibers is necessary to know. Usually, unless you are making patch cords or hooking up a simple link with two fiber, it is highly recommended that you include a number of spare fibers. Corporate network backbones are often 48 fibers or more. Most backbone cables are hybrids – a mix of 62.5/125 multimode fiber for today’s networks and single-mode fiber for future networks. If the slowest network planned today is as gigabit speeds, it might even be better to use the new 50/125 multimode fiber optimized for the laser sources used in gigabit networks.

Where to Install the Fiber Optic Cable? Indoor, Outdoor or Both?

Outdoor cables are designed to protect the fibers from years of exposure to moisture. Until recently, your only choice for outdoor cables was loose-tube, gel-filled cables. But now you can buy dry water-blocked cables similar to indoor designs that are easy to terminate without breakout kits, saving incredible amounts of time. In a campus environment, you can even get cables with two jackets: an outer PE jacket that withstands moisture and an inner PVC jacket that is UL-rated for fire retardancy. You can bring the cable into a building, strip off the PE jacket and run it anywhere, while normal outdoor cables are limited to 50 feet inside the building.

Indoor cables are what we called “tight-buffered” cables, where the glass fiber has a primary coating and secondary buffer coatings that enlarge each fiber to 900 microns – about 1 mm or 1/25- inch- to make the fiber easier to work with. These cables can be directly terminated.

The most popular cable for indoor use is distribution cable, which has a number of 900-micron buffered, color-coded fibers inside a single jacket. It’s the smallest and lightest cable, and each fiber is sturdy enough for direct termination. Another choice for indoor use is the breakout cable, which is just a bunch of simplex cables inside a common jacket for convenience in pulling and ruggedness.

Where to Buy Fiber Optic Cable?

Once knowing what kind of fiber optic cables is needed, last but not least is to decide where to buy your required fiber optic cables. In the actual production of fiber optic cable, materials which are wearable, radiation proof and adaptable to temperature is very important. Good core material and the external packages. When buying fiber optic cable, qualification of the fiber optic cable manufacturers should be taken into consideration, choosing qualified and professional manufacturers will ensure you quickly get the problem resolved after the sale.

Understanding Singlemode and Multimode Fiber Optic Cables

Fiber optic cables are generally divided into two types: single mode and multi-mode. Understanding characteristics of each fiber types help understand the applications for which they are used. Earlier in 1970, fiber optic cables are researched to have the capabilities of carrying 65,000 times more information then just regular copper wire, through with information carried by a pattern of light waves that could be detected at a distance of even 1000 miles away.

Real life uses of fiber optics
There are two basic types of fiber optic cables: multi-mode and single mode fiber. Multimode fiber is best designed for short transmission distances, and is suitable for use in LAN systems and video surveillance. Single-mode fiber is best designed for longer transmission distances, making it suitable for long-distance telephony and multichannel television broadcast systems. Fiber optics is very important in communications, because it can be used to transmit information very efficiently. Fiber optics also have visual users. Fiber optics is used in medicine to look inside the body. By using optical fiber cables, doctors can examine organs and diagnose illness without surgury or X-rays. Optical fibers can also deliver laser light to specific points in side the body to help surgons with delicate surgery. A local radia station uses fiber optical cables instead of FM waves.

Multimode and Singlemode Fiber
Multimode fiber is the first to be manufactured and commercialized, simply refers to the fact that numerous modes or light rays are carried simultaneously through the waveguide. Modes result from the fact that light will only propagate in the fiber core at discrete angle within the cone of acceptance. This fiber type has a much large core diameter, compared to single-mode fiber, allowing for the larger number of modes, and multimode fiber is easier to couple than single-mode optical fiber. Multimode fiber may be categorized as step-index or graded-index fiber. Multimode Step-index Fiber core’s index of refraction is higher than the cladding’s index of refraction, the light that enters at less than the critical angle is guided along the fiber. Multimode graded-index fiber core’s refractive index is parabolic, being higher at the center. They follow a serpentine path being gradually bent back toward the center by the continuously declining refractive index.

Single-mode fiber allows for a higher capacity to transmit information because it can retain the fidelity of each light pulse over longer distances, and it exhibits no dispersion caused by multiple modes. Single-mode fiber also enjoys lower fiber attenuation than multimode fiber. Thus, more information can be transmitted per unit of time. Like multimode fiber, early single-mode fiber was generally characterized as step-index fiber meaning the refractive index of the fiber core is a step above that of the cladding rather than graduated as it is in graded-index fiber. Modern single-mode fibers have evolved into more complex designs such as matched clad, depressed clad and other exotic structures.

A interesting fact is that an optical fiber cable is less than 1/2 inch in diameter, which could carry more than 40,000 telephone conversations at once. Today more than 80% of the worlds long-distance traffic is carried over optical fiber cables.Additional important variety of multimode and single mode fiber includes polarization-maintaining, Low smoke zero halogen, armored fiber.

This article is source from fibre optic cable manufacturers.