The MTRJ connector is a small duplex connector. It can accommodate two fibers simultaneously in a small body. Its body and ferrule are made of plastic and are available in male and female versions that are held in place with metal pins.
The increasing deployment of fiber optics in data centers, telcos, wide area networks, local area networks (LANs), and building backbones raises questions about the size of fiber optic connectors.
Using large connectors such as ST and SC increases the usable area, which leads to higher installation costs and makes it difficult to expand the connection.
So, what is the solution?
The optical fiber connector
The solution created small form factor (SFF) connectors. SFF connectors help reduce deployment costs and save the footprint of cables and equipment in fiber optic installations because they can place multiple fiber optic connections in the same space. In the late 90s, different types of SFF connectors were developed, but until today, only two of them have been successful: MTRJ and LC.
The MTRJ connector was developed by AMP and is advertised as the ultimate SFF connector at the moment. Inspired by the design of the MT ribbon connector, AMP has created an inexpensive MT connector that holds two fibers in a plastic ferrule.
The LC connector is a small, low insertion and low loss connector created by Lucent Communications to meet the needs of its customers. It is made of plastic and holds an optical fiber in a ceramic or zirconia ferrule.
Two LC connectors can be put into a duplex assembly and occupy the same space as a single SC.
But which connector to choose?
lc connector
LC connectors have better insertion loss and return loss
Why? Provides better connector-adapter-connector mating quality due to its 125um ceramic ferrule. Instead, MTRJ ferrules are made of plastic and use metal pins to align the fibers.
Cleaning LC connectors is easier because they allow traditional fiber cleaning methods to be used. It is difficult to clean the MTRJ connector due to the alignment pins.
LC connectors can be spliced and installed in the field using the same method as SC and ST, whereas MT-RJ connectors require both fibers to be installed/spliced at the same time, which can compromise overall performance.
LC has become the connector of choice for high-speed application transceivers, as most manufacturers support the LC interface and provide 10Mbps to 10Gbps applications.
However, MT-RJ multimode connectors have little support among fiber optic transceivers and LAN equipment manufacturers, especially for 100BASE-FX interfaces. Although the LC is clearly the ultimate SFF connector, the MT-RJ can still be used in some applications, especially in its multimode version.
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