In term of transmission medium, fiber patch cables are usually divided into single-mode fiber patch cable(SMF) and multi-mode fiber patch cable(MMF). Judging from color, the former is generally yellow with a blue connector; while the latter, on the whole, looks in orange with a cream or black connector. As for the core of matter, whose main difference lies in the size of their cables, a typical single-mode fiber patch cable has a core of 8 to 10 microns. In single-mode cables, light travels towards the center of the core in a single wavelength. This leads to faster speeds and longer distances of single-mode fiber patch cables than multi-mode ones. On the other hand, multi-mode cables have much a larger core diameter, typically 50–100 micrometers and larger wavelength of light than single-mode ones. Therefore, the capacity of multi-mode ones to gather light is larger than the others, and more signals are transmitted by multi-mode ones. When talking about modal dispersion, single-mode cables do display it at some extent caused by multiple spatial modes and with narrower modal dispersion. For these reasons, single-mode ones are better at maintaining fidelity of signals transmitted over long distances.

Single-mode fiber patch cables are more suitable for transmitting data over longer distances and used for network connections and scientific researches in large areas since they have only one wavelength path which makes light more focused, such as college campuses and cable TV networks. As far as multi-mode cables are concerned, they play their great roles in many applications. For example, LED sources, when used with multi-mode cables, can produce different wavelengths which transmit at their own speeds. Also, multi-mode cables are often seen to transmit data and voice signals over shorter distances in such applications as alarm systems.

Last but not least, it is about price. Single-mode fiber patch cable itself is more expensive than multi-mode one, but single-mode fiber equipment is cheaper than that of multi-mode one. Of course, price is not the fatal factor that leads you to buy which one, but quality and performance make up for much larger percent when you decide to select fiber patch cables.Maybe just words on rhetoric are not that convincing, and you can see the following image for more information about SMF patch cable(left) and MMF patch cable(right).

In Fiberstore, various types of fiber optic patch cables are available, including not only single-mode and multi-mode patch cables, but also multi-core, armored patch cables, as well as fiber optic pigtails and other special patch cable. You can visit Fiberstore for more detailed information.

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