The 3M™ Expanded Beam Optical Connector System is engineered as a high-performance, cost-effective, and scalable single mode and multimode interconnect system for data center applications. A first-of-its-kind, the revolutionary expanded beam ferrule and connector system challenges the status quo of optical interconnect and is designed to enable the industry to meet next generation data center demands.
Fiber optic expanded beam interconnect designed to deliver leading edge performance, reduce sensitivity to dust and lower total cost of ownership.
The 3M™ Expanded Beam Optical Ferrule uses a non-contact optical coupling in contrast to the more traditional physical contact methods. Together with the connector design, this helps to provide reduced sensitivity to dust, helping maintain signal integrity, and reducing the need for, and cost of, maintenance and cleaning.
It is available in single mode (1310 nm) and multimode (850 nm) versions. In single mode, insertion loss specification is <0.70 dB, and return loss is >55 dB. In multimode, insertion loss specification is <0.30 dB, and return loss is >25 dB. The configurable and scalable connector design can accommodate anywhere from 12 fibers to 192 fibers. The simple, but robust hermaphroditic component geometry design, with low part count, can be mated and re-mated reliably with a simple LC-style latch. The performance enables architects and engineers to deploy the technology in multilink data center applications.
