Main classification of optical fibers:
1. From the perspective of materials, there are quartz-based optical fibers, multi-component glass optical fibers, all-plastic optical fibers, fluoride optical fibers, etc.
2. According to the number of fiber conduction modes, it can be divided into multimode fiber and single-mode fiber
a) Multimode fiber: The core is relatively thick (50/125um or 62.5/125m), capable of transmitting light in multiple modes. Its intermodal dispersion is large, limiting the frequency of transmitted digital signals. Therefore, its transmission distance is generally only a few kilometers. According to its transmission rate, it can be divided into ordinary multimode fiber (OM1), gigabit multimode fiber (OM2), and 10-gigabit multimode fiber (OM3)
b) Single-mode fiber: The core is very thin (9 or 10/125um), capable of transmitting only one mode of light. Its intermodal dispersion is minimal, making it suitable for long-distance communication. However, it still faces material and waveguide dispersion, which imposes high requirements on the spectral width and stability of the light source. G.652 single-mode fiber exhibits zero total dispersion at a wavelength of 1310nm, which coincides with a low-loss window of the fiber and is also the primary operating wavelength band of practical optical fiber communication systems today.
3. Classified by their operating wavelengths, optical fibers include short-wavelength (850nm) fiber, long-wavelength (1310nm and 1550nm) fiber, and ultra-long-wavelength (1.65um) fiber. Generally, fiber loss decreases as the wavelength increases.
4. According to the application environment, it can be divided into indoor optical fiber and outdoor optical fiber:
a) Outdoor optical fiber: outdoor central tube type S sheath optical fiber (GYXTW), outdoor loose tube type armored optical fiber (GYTA), layer-stranded standard loose tube type reinforced armored optical fiber (GYTA53)
b) Indoor fiber: Multi-purpose indoor cabling fiber (GJPFJH, GJPFJHV), multi-purpose indoor branching fiber (GJBFJH, GJBFJV)