Fiber Optic Cable Single Mode Vs Multimode

Single mode fiber optic cable.

Fiber optic cable single mode vs multimode.

Single mode fiber also accommodates much higher bandwidths than multimode. Currently singlemode fiber is typically less expensive than multimode fiber but it s important to keep other price factors in mind as well. Single mode fiber needs to be used with laser diode based fiber optic transmission equipment for precise calibration required to inject light into the fiber optic cable. Because multimode fiber is thicker it can accommodate more signals for greater bandwidth.

Single mode fiber has a core that measures around 5um while the multimode fiber core measures 50um or more. Single mode fiber optic cable has a small diametral core that allows only one mode of light to propagate. Designed for long distance communication a single mode fiber cable allows light signals to travel more than 10 miles a much longer distance than multimode. The main difference between multi mode and single mode optical fiber is that the former has much larger core diameter typically 50 100 micrometers.

Multimode optical fiber continues to be the more cost effective choice over single mode optical fiber for shorter reach applications. Most fiber systems use transceivers which combine a transmitter and receiver into a single module using fiber optic technology to send and receive data over an optical network. Because of this the number of light reflections created as the light passes through the core decreases lowering attenuation and creating the ability for the signal to travel further. While the multimode om3 or om4 fiber increases 35 in cost for sfp modules.

When building a 1g fiber optic network that you want to be able to go to 10g or faster on eventually the savings on cost of fiber for single mode saves about half price. While multimode fiber is usually used with led based fiber optic equipment for short distance transmissions. Some studies report a difference of 100 000 ghz. While the actual cost of multimode cable is greater than that of single mode fiber optic cable it is the optics that dominate the total cost of a network system dwarfing variation in cable costs.

Compared to the multimode fiber the single mode patch cords carry a higher bandwidth but it requires a light source with a narrow spectral width. The main difference between single mode and multimode optical fiber is the size of the core. Much larger than the wavelength of the light carried in it.