Fibre Optic Patch Cords

Multimode fiber optic patch cord has a large-diameter core that is much larger than the wavelength of light transmitted, and therefore has multiple pathways of light-several wavelengths of light are used in the fiber core. Multimode fiber optic patch cord can be used for most general fiber applications.

Use multimode fiber for bringing fiber to the desktop, for adding segments to your existing network, or in smaller applications such as alarm systems. Single mode fiber optic patch cord has a small core and only one pathway of light. With only a single wavelength of light passing through its core, single mode realigns the light toward the center of the core instead of simply bouncing it off the edge of the core as with multimode.

Single mode is typically used in long-haul network connections spread out over extended areas–longer than a few miles. For example, Telco’s use it for connections between switching offices. Duplex fiber optic patch cord cable consists of two fibers, usually in a zip cord (side-by-side) style. Use duplex multimode or single mode fiber optic cable for applications that require simultaneous, bi-directional data transfer. Workstations, fiber switches and servers, fiber modems, and similar hardware require duplex cable. Duplex fiber is available in single mode and multimode.

Simplex fiber optic patch cord consists of a single fiber, and is used in applications that only require one-way data transfer. For instance, an interstate trucking scale that sends the weight of the truck to a monitoring station or an oil line monitor that sends data about oil flow to a central location. Simplex fiber is available in single mode and multimode.