Introduction to fiber optical pigtails

How to find the top quality manufacturer and supplier of fiber optical pigtails? 

Writer: MJ from Zion Communication

Date:2021-8-10

A fiber optical pigtail is a single, short, usually tightly buffered fiber that has an optical connector pre-installed at the factory on one end and a bare section of fiber on the other.

The pigtail can have either a female connector or a male connector. Female splices can be mounted on patch panels, usually in pairs, although single-fiber solutions are also available to allow them to be connected to endpoints or other fiber runs with patch fibers. Alternatively, they can have male connectors that plug directly into the optical transceiver.

One end of the pigtail is stripped and fused to a single fiber in a multi-fiber trunk. The pigtail is spliced to each fiber of the backbone, "breaking" the multi-fiber cable into its constituent fibers for connection to the end device.

The combination of high quality fiber pigtails and proper splicing practices provides the best performance for fiber optic cable termination. Pigtails are used in 99% of single-mode applications, but pigtails are also used in many multimode applications.

Contents

1. Different types of fiber optical pigtails

2. Connector types and typical application

3. Polishing type: UPC or APC or PC or Flat

4. Fiber mode: SM or MM

5. Cable Jacket matterial and Jacket color

6. Fiber optical patch cord naming scheme

7. Hot Types of fiber optical pigtails

8. Main manufacturers and brands

1，Different types of fiber optical pigtails

What are the types of fiber optic pigtails and how do we choose the right one?

We will do the classification and explanation in this note.

Here are two types of fiber optic pigtails. Firstly type by connectors, fiber optic pigtails has some types including LC, SC, ST, FC, MU,E2000 and MTRJ. Secondly type by fibers, fiber optic pigtails has two types as single-mode(SM) and multimode(MM).

1.1) Type by connector

1.1.1）LC Fiber optical pigtal

LC fiber optic pigtail uses the LC connector developed by Lucent Company. LC connector is now one of the most popular connectors in the world. A 1.25mm ceramic ferrule makes LC fiber optic pigtail a better choice for low cost but high precision signal transmission.

1.1.2）SC Fiber optical pigtal

SC fiber optic pigtail uses the SC connector.SC pigtail cable connector is a non-optical disconnect connector with a 2.5mm pre-radiused zirconia or stainless alloy ferrule. SC fiber pigtail is economical for use in applications such as CATV, LAN, WAN, test and measurement.

1.1.3）ST Fiber optical pigtal

ST fiber optic pigtail uses the ST connector. ST pigtail connector is the most popular connector for multimode fiber optic LAN applications. It has a long 2.5mm diameter ferrule made of ceramic (zirconia), stainless alloy or plastic. Hence SC fiber pigtails are commonly seen in telecommunications, industry, medical and sensor fields.

1.1.4）FC Fiber optical pigtal

FC fiber optic pigtail uses the FC connector.FC fiber pigtail takes the advantage of the metallic body of FC optical connectors, featuring the screw type structure and high precision ceramic ferrules. FC fiber optic pigtails and its related products are widely applied for the general applications.

Like fiber optic patch cords, fiber optic pigtails can be divided into UPC and APC versions. Most commonly used types are SC/APC pigtail, FC/APC pigtail and MU/UPC pigtail.

1.2) Type by fiber

Single-mode fiber and multimode fiber are both used for fiber optic pigtails. The single-mode fiber optic pigtail has a 9/125 micron core size. SC, LC, ST, FC and E2000 connectors are all fit for this kind of fiber. As for multimode fiber optic pigtails, there are two different core sizes. One is 62.5/125 micron of OM1, and the other is 50/125 micron of OM2, OM3, OM4. SC, LC, ST, FC connectors are adaptable to multimode fiber optic pigtails.

1.2.1) Single Typical: 1 Fiber

1.2.2) Bunch Typical: 12 Fibers  (U=Unjacketed)

1.2.3)  Customized: 4-48 Fibers

2，Connector types and typical application

There are many connector types used in fiber patch cables such as 

LC, SC, FC, ST,MU, MTRJ,LSH,E-2000.Let's take a look at the common connector types:

3，Polishing Type

Fiber optic connectors are designed and polished to different shapes to minimize back reflection, which is particularly important in single mode applications. According to this connector polish types, there are PC, UPC, and APC fiber patch cords. This post PC vs UPC vs APC Connector: Selecting the Right Fiber Connector Type presents the difference of PC, UPC, and APC. Nowadays PC polish type has been replaced by UPC type. Whether you choose UPC or APC depends on your actual application. Since APC provides less insertion loss than UPC, the APC fiber patch cables are more applicable for high bandwidth applications and long-distance links, such as FTTx, passive optical network (PON) and wavelength division multiplex (WDM). Whereas UPC fiber patch cords apply to optical systems that are less sensitive to insertion loss such as digital TV and telephony.

4，Fiber mode

The mode of fiber patch cables indicates how light beams travel within the fiber. There are two fiber cable modes: single mode and multimode.Single mode fiber patch lead only allows one mode of light to pass along its length with a very thin diameter of 8-10 microns, thus it can carry signals at much higher speeds with lower attenuation. Single mode fiber has two varieties: OS1 and OS2, which are different in construction and application.The core of the multimode fiber patch cord is bigger, typically 50 or 62.5 microns, which enables multiple light modes to be transmitted. It comes in five varieties supporting different transmission rates or distances: 62.5-micron OM1, 50-micron OM2, 50-micron OM3, 50-micron OM4, which can be differentiated by standard jacket colors. 

5, Cable Jacket matterial and Jacket color

PVC and LSZH are used to describe the common jacket material of fiber patch cord.

6, Fiber optical pigtails naming scheme

The following are common mainstream naming conventions for fiber optic pigtails.

7, Hot types of fiber optical pigtails

7.1)  Single Typical: 1 Fiber

7.2) Bunch Typical: 12 Fibers  (U=Unjacketed)

7.3) Customized: 4-48 Fibers

More products, please visit our online website:

https://www.zion-communication.com/Fiber-Pacth-Cord.html

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