There are many different ways to connect optical fiber devices. In this video, you’ll learn about LC, SC, ST, and MPO fiber connectors.
When working with fiber optics, one of the first things you’ll notice is there are many different connector types. You have to make sure that you use the right connector type for the right connection.
A very common fiber connector type is the SC connector, or the Subscriber Connector. We also have other names that we associate with this connector. One is a square connector because the connector itself is rather square when you look at it. You might also see this referred to as a standard connector, although there are certainly other types of fiber connectors that you might use.
To use an SC connector, it simply pushes into the connection and snaps in place with a lock. Once you have that connector in place, it’s not going to accidentally slip out of that connection. You first have to pull on the connector to unlock it, and then it can be removed from that interface. This is a common connector type, and if you’re plugging into a connection in a data center, you’re probably using some connections that are identified as SC.
The connectors themselves support individual fibers, but they’re often combined together into a pair because one of these is commonly used for transmit and the other is commonly used for receive.
Another common fiber connector is the LC, or Local Connector. This is slightly smaller than an SC connector, and as you can see, it has a clip on the top to lock it in place once you put it into the interface. This also means that it won’t accidentally get pulled out of an interface, and to remove it, you need to push down on the clip. That will release the lock and allow you to easily remove it from the interface. Instead of local connector, you might also see this referred to as a Lucent connector or a little connector.
The LC connector can also be combined in a pair– looks like this– and you can plug both of them in simultaneously. And again, one is used for transmit and the other used for receive.
Another fiber on our list is the ST connector. That stands for Straight Tip. It uses a bayonet connector. So you push it into an interface, give it a slight twist, and it is locked in place. This will not easily get removed from the interface unless you reverse that twist, and then you can remove it from the interface. When you’re working inside of a rack and there’s a large number of cables and fiber, it can be very easy to accidentally dislodge one of those connections. That’s why we have all of these different locking mechanisms for these different interface types.
Here’s a closer view of the ST connector. There is a protective ferrule around the fiber, which you can barely see in this picture, and you can easily see the bayonet connector where you would plug it in and twist it in place so that it is locked into that interface.
One of the challenges with the connector types that we’ve seen so far is that those fiber connections take up a lot of real estate. It would be a lot more efficient if we could put more fiber into a smaller connection, and there is a connector type for that called the MPO, which is Multi-fiber Push On. Inside the MPO are 12 individual fibers that are contained in that single cable connection. This also has a lock in place that’s very similar to the SC connector where you would push it in place, and you would have to pull it out slightly to unlock it from the interface. You might also see this connector referred to as an MTP. That name is provided by Corning, and they refer to this as an MTP MPO connector.
Here’s a side view of the connector. It has this lock on the top, and the individual fibers are these smaller dots you can barely see in this picture. If we look at it straight on with some light being sent through the fiber, you can see that all 12 of those fibers are much easier to see on the MPO connector.