Which type of fiber optic cable carries higher bandwidth over hundreds or thousands of kilometers and typically requires more expensive electronics to generate light?

Which type of fiber optic cable carries higher bandwidth over hundreds or thousands of kilometers and typically requires more expensive electronics to generate light?

• A. Single-mode cables
• B. Multimode cables
• C. Coaxial cables
• D. Twisted pair cables

Answer: (A)

Single-mode fiber carries higher bandwidth over long distances because its tiny core allows only a single light path, which dramatically reduces modal dispersion. When light travels through fiber, different paths can cause parts of the signal to arrive at different times; multimode fiber has many paths, so dispersion accumulates quickly and limits how much data can be sent reliably over hundreds or thousands of kilometers. With a single path, the signal stays together much longer, enabling much higher data rates over long distances. The light source in these systems is typically a laser diode operating at infrared wavelengths (like 1310 nm or 1550 nm), which is more expensive than the LEDs used with multimode fiber, hence the pricier electronics. Multimode fiber uses a larger core and supports many propagation paths, leading to more dispersion and lower usable bandwidth on long links, while copper options are not fiber and don’t offer the same long-distance high-bandwidth capabilities.

Single-mode fiber carries higher bandwidth over long distances because its tiny core allows only a single light path, which dramatically reduces modal dispersion. When light travels through fiber, different paths can cause parts of the signal to arrive at different times; multimode fiber has many paths, so dispersion accumulates quickly and limits how much data can be sent reliably over hundreds or thousands of kilometers. With a single path, the signal stays together much longer, enabling much higher data rates over long distances. The light source in these systems is typically a laser diode operating at infrared wavelengths (like 1310 nm or 1550 nm), which is more expensive than the LEDs used with multimode fiber, hence the pricier electronics. Multimode fiber uses a larger core and supports many propagation paths, leading to more dispersion and lower usable bandwidth on long links, while copper options are not fiber and don’t offer the same long-distance high-bandwidth capabilities.