How to distinguish between LC and SC interfaces of optical modules?

With the continuous development of the optical communication industry and the continuous improvement of netizens’ requirements for network service quality, optical fiber communication systems have become closer to everyone’s lives. Higher bandwidth and port density, and lower energy consumption have become the constant pursuit of optical fiber communication systems. In the entire system, the optical module plays a very important role. Its most common interface types are LC and SC interfaces. The following article will introduce how to distinguish the interfaces of optical modules.

LC optical module refers to the optical module whose interface type is LC, which is divided into simplex and duplex, and is used in connection with LC optical fiber connectors. The structure of the LC optical module interface uses a modular jack (RJ) latch mechanism. This mechanism makes the LC fiber connector adopt a pin and sleeve design, which has a smaller volume, which can improve the fiber connection in the system. The density of the switch can accommodate more ports in the same area on the switch. But it is precisely because of its small size that requires thinner cores for the connected fiber jumpers.

Types of LC optical modules

1. SFP optical modules: Most SFP optical modules are LC optical modules, including 100M SFP optical modules, Gigabit SFP optical modules, 100M BIDI optical modules, Gigabit BIDI optical modules, and Gigabit CWDM optical modules.
2. BIDI optical modules: All BIDI optical modules are LC optical modules, including BIDI SFP optical modules, BIDI SFP+ optical modules, BIDI XFP optical modules, etc.
3. SFP+ optical module: SFP-10G-SR optical module, SFP-10G-LR optical module, SFP-10G-ER optical module, SFP-10G-LRM optical module, SFP-10G-ZR optical module and SFP-10G- LX4 optical modules are all LC optical modules.
4. XFP optical module: Most of the optical modules are packaged in XFP, and the interface type is LC interface, such as 10G XFP optical module, BIDI XFP optical module, CWDM optical module and DWDM XFP optical module.
5. QSFP+ optical module: The interface of 40G LR4 QSFP+ optical module is LC duplex, which has the advantages of high density, high speed, large capacity, low cost, and low power consumption. It can be used with single-mode fiber and the maximum transmission distance can reach 10km. .
6. QSFP28 optical module: 100GBASE-LR4 optical module, 100GBASE-ER4 optical module, 100G CWDM4 optical module and 100G SWDM4 optical module. The interface of the four types of optical modules is LC duplex, but their transmission distance depends on different transmission applications. It’s different.

The SC optical module is an optical module with an SC interface. This optical module is divided into simplex and duplex, and is used with the SC connector. The fastening method of the interface of the SC optical module is a plug-in latch type, which does not need to be rotated and is very convenient to use. The SC optical module belongs to the early optical module, the volume is larger than the SFP optical module/SFP+ optical module, the speed is about 10Gbps, and it supports hot-swappable function, which is very cost-effective. SC optical modules are widely used in Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet, especially X2 optical modules are favored by users in data centers and enterprise campuses.

Type of SC optical module

1. GBIC optical module: GBIC optical module is an early optical module with its own multi-source protocol and conforms to the SFF-8053 standard. It is mainly used in Gigabit Ethernet switches and routers. GBIC optical modules mainly include BiDi GBIC optical modules and CWDM GBIC optical modules.
2. XENPAK optical module: XENPAK optical module supports all optical interfaces defined by the IEEE 802.3ae standard. XENPAK optical modules have three types: 10G XENPAK optical modules, CWDM XENPAK optical modules and DWDM XENPAK optical modules.
3. X2 optical module: The internal functional modules of the X2 optical module and the XENPAK optical module are basically the same on the circuit board. The volume of the improved X2 optical module is only one-half of the XENPAK optical module, so it is suitable for high density In the network. There are four types of X2 optical modules: 10G X2 optical modules, BiDi X2 optical modules, CWDM X2 optical modules and DWDM X2 optical modules.

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