What are jumpers, network cables, optical fibers, and optical cables? What's the difference?

What are jumpers, network cables, optical fibers, and optical cables? What's the difference?

Optical fiber jumpers (also known as optical fiber connectors) refer to the connector plugs installed on both ends of the optical cable to realize the active connection of the optical path; one end with a plug is called a pigtail. Fiber patch cords (Optical Fiber Patch Cord/Cable) are similar to coaxial cables, but without a mesh shield. At the center is the glass core where light travels. In a multimode fiber, the diameter of the core is 50 μm to 65 μm, which is roughly equivalent to the thickness of a human hair. The diameter of the single-mode fiber core is 8 μm~10 μm. The core is surrounded by a glass envelope with a lower refractive index than the core to keep the fiber within the core. On the outside is a thin plastic jacket that protects the envelope.

OM3 multimode fiber patch cord OM3 multimode fiber optic cable is an optical cable made of OM3 multimode fiber plus indoor or outdoor jacket, which is often used for the backbone laying of buildings and the backbone connection between two buildings in close proximity. OM stands for Multi-mode fibre (Multi-mode fibre, also known as MMF), which usually has four grades of OM1/OM2/OM3/OM4. The main difference is that the mode bandwidth of the 850nm transmission window is different. OM2, OM3, and OM4 optical fibers belong to the A1a type optical fibers specified by IEC 60793-20. The A1a type optical fibers adopt a 50/125 structure, with a core of 50 μm and a cladding of 125 μm. OM2 is A1a.1, and OM3 is A1a.2 , OM4 is A1a.3, OM3 and OM4 are laser-optimized fiber types that can provide higher transmission bandwidth in the 850nm transmission window.

Optical fiber cable is a new generation of transmission medium. Compared with copper medium, optical fiber has greatly improved in terms of security, reliability and network performance. The bandwidth of optical fiber transmission greatly exceeds that of copper cable, and the maximum distance supported is more than two kilometers. Optical fiber cable has the advantages of good electromagnetic interference resistance, strong confidentiality, fast speed and large transmission capacity. At present, there are two different types of optical fibers that are more common, namely single-mode optical fiber and multi-mode optical fiber. Multimode fiber is generally used for network connections within the same office building or within relatively short distances. Single-mode fiber, on the other hand, delivers higher quality data and longer distances, and is often used to connect networks between office buildings or more geographically dispersed networks. If fiber optic cable is used as the network transmission medium, equipment such as optical transceivers need to be added.