Fiber connector, also called fiber optic cable connectors, are often used to link optical fibers where a connect or disconnect capability is needed. Fiber optic cable connectors come in many configurations and usages, and simplify fiber optic cable installation and maintenance greatly. A number of fiber connector types have been evolved and withstood the test of time to become industry standards. Then how many fiber connector types do you know or use?  Find details in the following parts.

The types of fiber optic connector

SC fiber optic connector

This is a fiber optic connector developed by NTT Corporation of Japan. The outer casing has a rectangular shape, and the structure of the pin and the coupling sleeve is exactly the same as that of the FC type. The end face of the pin is mostly APC or APC type grinding method; the fastening method is a plug-and-pin type, and no need Rotate. Such connectors are inexpensive, easy to insert and remove, have small fluctuations in insertion loss, high  strength, and high installation density.

ST fiber optic connector 

ST fiber optic connector  adopts a bayonet type locking structure with a key (similar to a BNC connection structure), and the pin body is a precision ceramic pin having an outer diameter of 2.5 mm, and the end face shape of the pin is usually a PC surface.

LC fiber optic connector

The LC type connector was developed by the famous Bell Research Institute. The size of the pins and sleeves used is half that of ordinary SC, FC, etc., which is 1.25 mm. This can increase the density of the fiber optic connectors in the optical distribution frame. At present, in the single-mode SFF, the LC type connector has actually occupied a dominant position, and the application in multi-mode has also grown rapidly.

FC fiber optic connector

This connector was first developed by NTT Japan. FC is an abbreviation, indicating that the external reinforcement method is a metal sleeve, and the fastening method is a turnbuckle. At the earliest, FC type connectors, the mating end faces of the ceramic pins used were planar contact (FC).The connector has the advantages of simple structure, convenient operation and easy manufacture, but the fiber end face is sensitive to fine dust, and Fresnel reflection is easy to occur, and it is difficult to improve the return loss performance. Later, the modified type connector was improved, and the pin (PC) with a spherical end face was used, and the external structure was not changed, so that the insertion loss and the return loss performance were greatly improved.

MPO/MTP fiber optic connector 

MPO/MTP fiber connector is a multi-fiber connector which combines fibers from 12 to 24 fibers in a single rectangular ferrule. It’s often used in 40G and 100G optical parallel connections. Compared with other fiber connectors mentioned above, MPO/MTP fiber connectors are more complicated. Because there are key-up and key-down, male and female MPO/MTP connectors.

Conclusion

The four types of the fiber optic connector mentioned above are all applied universally in the data center cabling. If you still have any questions or need, please visit http://tarluz.com/