Owing to explosive growth and deployment of fiber optic technology in recent years, fiber optic patch cables have replaced copper wires in many applications for reliable high-speed data transmission with great bandwidth. A fiber optic patch cable, often called fiber optic patch cord or fiber jumper cable, is a fiber optic cable made of glass and capped at either end with connectors that allow it to be rapidly and conveniently connected to CATV, an optical switch or other telecommunication equipment.

Fiber optic patch cables are often utilized in communication rooms, FTTH (Fiber to The Home), LAN (Local Area Network), data processing networks, premise installations, etc. They can be classified into different types according to cable transmission mode, connector construction, cable structure as well as cables size.

Based on this standard, fiber optic patch cables can be divided into single-mode fiber (SMF) patch cables and multi-mode fiber (MMF) patch cables. The former is generally in yellow typically with a core of 8 to 10 microns, suitable for transmitting data over long distances. In addition, they are often used for network connections and scientific researches in large areas. As for the latter, their jacket colors are usually in orange with a core of 50–100 micrometers, ideal for transmitting data and voice signals over short distances in such applications as alarm systems. The following images are SMF patch cable (left) and MMF patch cable (right).

As far as this standard is concerned, FC, SC, ST, LC, MTRJ, MPO, MU, SMA, FDDI, E2000, DIN4, and D4 types are all available, among which ST and LC connectors are often used in cable configurations, such as ST-LC fiber jumper. ST stands for "straight tip”. This kind of connector was developed by AT&T, widely used in LAN (Local Area Network). LC is a popular small form factor (SFF) connector developed by Lucent. All these connectors feature with low insertion loss, high return loss, interchange, easy installation, as well as excellent environmental adaptability.

As for cable structure, fiber optic patch cables mainly fall on two kinds, simplex and duplex patch cables. A simplex patch cable has one optical fiber with one connector on each end, while a duplex patch cable has two optical fibers with two connectors on each end. The images below are simplex patch cable (left) and duplex patch cable (right).

Ordinary cables measure 125 µm in diameter (a strand of human hair is about 100 µm). The inner diameter measures 9 µm for single-mode cables, and 50 / 62.5 µm for multi-mode cables.

Fiber optic patch cables play a really important part in telecommunications for making transmission faster and more accurate. All those above-mentioned fiber types can be found in Fiberstore. Besides, armored patch cables and other special patch cables are also available in Fiberstore. For more information about fiber optic patch cables, please visit Fiberstore.

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