The concept of single-mode and multi-mode is to classify fibers according to the propagation mode-the concept of multi-mode fiber and single-mode fiber propagation mode. In the field of optical fiber data transmission, the term "mode" is used to describe the propagation mode of optical signals in the optical fiber glass core-that is, the mode is the propagation path of light. Therefore, in single-mode fiber, light travels along one path; in multimode fiber, light travels in multiple paths.

1 Appearance: The jacket of the single-mode fiber jumper is generally yellow, and the multimode is generally orange or the so-called aqua (that is, the color between blue and green); in terms of core diameter, the multimode In general, it is slightly thicker.

2 Transmission distance: The transmission distance of single-mode fiber is not less than 5km, which is generally used for remote communication; multi-mode fiber can only reach about 2km, which is suitable for short-distance communication in buildings or campuses.

3 Light source: Because the LED light source is more dispersed and can produce multiple modes of light, it is mostly used for multimode fiber; while the laser light source is close to a single mode, so it is usually used for single mode fiber.

4Bandwidth: Single-mode fiber has a higher bandwidth than multimode fiber (as mentioned before, bandwidth refers to the frequency of sending data, so the adjective "higher" is used).

5 Cost of use: Multimode fiber allows multiple light modes, so multimode fiber is more expensive than single mode. However, single-mode fiber uses solid-state laser diode as the light source, which is far more expensive than the light source equipment of multimode fiber, so the use cost of single-mode fiber is much higher than the cost of multimode fiber