Fiber Optic Connectors – Standards to Ensure Physical Contact

As we know, physical contact is most important to ensure low IL and high RL for fiber connection. The evolution of endface polishing types experiences physical contact (PC), ultra physical contact (UPC) and angled physical contact (APC), as shown in Fig.1. All the endfaces are spherically polished. The UPC connector has a smaller radius of curvature than the PC connector. For the APC connector, the sphere surface is usually tilted by an angle of 8°. The RL guaranteed by PC, UPC and APC is 40dB, 55dB and 65dB, respectively.

Fig.1 Polish types for the endfaces of fiber optic connectors