Multimode Fiber: OM1 vs OM2 vs OM3 vs OM4 vs OM5

What is Multiode Fiber?

Multimode fiber is a type of optical fiber commonly used for short distance transmission. Compared with single mode fiber, multimode fiber has a larger core diameter and dispersion, and can achieve hundreds of transmission modes. It is an ideal choice for various scenarios such as local area networks, campus networks, enterprise networks, and data centers.

Multimode Fiber Types

According to the ISO/IEC 11801 standard definition, multimode fiber can be divided into OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, and OM5 fibers.

OM1

OM1 fiber is the earliest multimode fiber standard, with a core size of 62.5 μm and typically equipped with an orange cable jacket. Using LED light source, suitable for Ethernet below 10Gbps. Due to the larger core diameter of OM1 fiber, it has strong light collection ability and bending resistance.

OM2

OM2 fiber is also an early type of multimode fiber, and its cable jacket color is also orange. It also uses LED light source, but with a smaller fiber core size of 50 μm. OM2 fiber is suitable for Ethernet below 10Gbps, especially in Gigabit Ethernet. Compared to OM1, the reduction in core diameter of OM2 fiber can effectively reduce the dispersion of multimode fiber, thereby increasing bandwidth.

OM3

OM3 multimode fiber adopts laser optimization, with a core diameter of 50 μm and an outer sheath color of aqua. It is suitable for Ethernet below 100Gbps, especially in 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Compared with OM1 and OM2, OM3 fiber has higher transmission rate and bandwidth.

OM4

OM4 fiber is an upgraded version of OM3 multimode fiber, which also uses laser optimization. The cable jacket color is violet(some manufacturers may use aqua). OM4 has superior performance compared to OM3, with higher effective bandwidth and longer transmission distance.

OM5

OM5 fiber is the latest generation of multimode fiber, using a lime green cable sheath. Its core size is same as OM2, OM3, and OM4, at 50/125 µm. OM5 fiber provides further optimization in bandwidth and performance, supporting four SWDM channels in the 850nm to 953nm window, designed to meet the needs of high-speed and high-density data transmission.

OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4, OM5 Fiber Difference

There are some physical and performance differences between different types of multimode fibers, among which the physical differences are mainly reflected in core diameter, jacket color, light source, etc., while the performance differences are more reflected in transmission rate and distance.

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