In this blog, ETU-Link will introduce OM5 optical fiber patch cord. In order to distinguish different optical fiber patch cord, different colors outer sheath are used.For non-military purposes, single mode optical fibers generally use yellow outer sheath. In the multimode optical fiber, OM1 and OM2 are orange, OM3 and OM4 are aqua blue, and OM5 is aqua green. After understanding the color appearance of OM5, then let us understand the OM5 optical fiber patch cord has what advantages.

1. Lower fiber loss

OM5 is the name given to a new type of broadband multimode fiber, with attenuation reduced from 3.5 dB/km to 3.0 dB/km for previous OM3 and OM4 fibers, and additional bandwidth requirements at 953nm wavelengths. The geometry of OM5 (50μm core and 125μm cladding) is the same as that of OM3 and OM4, making it compatible with these types of fibers downward.

2. Support higher bandwidth applications

OM5 optical fiber also supports future 400G Ethernet, for faster 400G Ethernet applications such as 400G Base-SR4.2 (4 pairs of optical fibers with 2 wavelengths, 50G PAM4 per channel) or 400G Base-SR4.4(4 pairs of optical fibers with 4 wavelengths, 25GNRZ per channel), Only 8-core OM5 optical fiber is required. OM5 optiacl fiber is a laser-optimized multimode fiber (MMF) that has specified bandwidth characteristics for wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). The aim of this new optiacl fiber classification method is to support a wide range of "short" wavelengths between 850nm and 950nm, which are suitable for high-bandwidth applications after polymerization.

The OM5 optical fiber patch cord at a wavelength of 850/1300 nm and supports at least four wavelengths. The usual operating wavelengths of OM3 and OM4 are 850nm and 1300nm. That is to say, the traditional OM1, OM2, OM3, OM4 multimode optical fiber has only one channel,while the OM5 has four channels and it’s transmission capacity increased by four times.

Combining shortwave wavelength division multiplexing (SWDM) and parallel transmission technology, OM5 requires only 8-core wideband multimode optical fiber (WBMMF) to support 200/400G Ethernet applications, greatly reducing the number of optical fiber cores and significantly reducing network wiring costs.

3. The transmission distance of OM5 optical fiber is longer than that of OM3 and OM4

OM5 optical fiber has more scalability and flexibility, and can support higher speed network transmission with fewer multimode optical fiber cores, while the cost and power consumption are far lower than single mode optical fiber. Therefore, it will be widely used in 100G/400G/1T super-large data centers in the future.