Difference Between Single Mode And Multimode Fiber Cable

The main difference between singlemode and multimode fiber patch cables is the size of their respective cores.

Difference between single mode and multimode fiber cable.

Single mode means the fiber enables one type of light mode to be propagated at a time. Multimode fiber cable is prefixed with om and single mode fiber cable is prefixed with os. The main difference between single mode and multimode optical fiber is the size of the core. Because multimode fiber is thicker it can accommodate more signals for greater bandwidth.

And it is also the reason why single mode fiber can have longer transmission distance than multimode fiber. Singlemode cables have a core of 8 to 10 microns. Much larger than the wavelength of the light carried in it. Some studies report a difference of 100 000 ghz.

While multimode is faster than single mode it also has a shorter maximum distance. While multimode means the fiber can propagate multiple modes. Multimode cables are made with thicker cores than single mode cables typically around 50 60 μm. Single mode fiber optic cable has a small diametral core that allows only one mode of light to propagate.

Single mode fiber has a core that measures around 5um while the multimode fiber core measures 50um or more. Transmission distance is affected by chromatic dispersion because the core of single mode fibers is much smaller than that of multimode fibers. Fiber optic cables used in telecommunication are broadly categorized in two types multimode fiber and single mode fiber cables. Multimode fiber has two types of light propagation step index and graded index while single mode fiber has only one step index.

Single mode fiber optic cable. And the light propagation reduces less in the single mode fibers transmission than that of multimode fibers. Single mode fiber also accommodates much higher bandwidths than multimode. These larger cores have more space for bouncing lasers down the length of the cable which increases signal speed.

The light propagation between single mode fiber and multimode fiber is totally different. Comparison with single mode fiber the main difference between multi mode and single mode optical fiber is that the former has much larger core diameter typically 50 100 micrometers. The differences between single mode and multimode fiber mainly lies in fiber core diameter wavelength light source bandwidth color sheath distance and cost.