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Cisco 7201 Installation and Configuration Guide
OL-11364-04
Chapter 2 Installing the Cisco 7201 Router Connecting I/O Cables
Caution If you plan to use a SFP-GE-L at distances greater than 984.25 feet (300 meters) over 50/125-micron or
62.5/125-micron multimode fiber, you must use the mode-conditioning patch cord to prevent data
transmission problems.
Mode-Conditioning Patch Cord Description
A mode-conditioning patch cord can be used with the SFP-GE-L= (SFP module) to allow reliable laser
transmission between the single-mode laser source on the SFP module and a multimode optical fiber
cable.
When an unconditioned laser source designed for operation on single-mode optical fiber is directly
coupled to a multimode optical fiber cable, an effect known as differential mode delay (DMD) might
result in a degradation of the modal bandwidth of the optical fiber cable.
This degradation results in a decrease in the link span (the distance between a transmitter and a receiver)
that can be supported reliably. The effect of DMD can be overcome by conditioning the launch
characteristics of a laser source. A practical means of performing this conditioning is to use a device
called a mode-conditioning patch cord.
A mode-conditioning patch cord is an optical fiber cable assembly that consists of a pair of optical fibers
terminated with connector hardware. Specifically, the mode-conditioning patch cord is composed of a
single-mode optical fiber permanently coupled off-center (see Offset in Figure 2-17) to a graded-index
multimode optical fiber. Figure 2-17 shows a diagram of the mode-conditioning patch cord assembly.
Figure 2-17 Mode-Conditioning Patch Cord Assembly for an SFP Module
The mode-conditioning patch cord assembly is composed of duplex optical fibers, including a
single-mode-to-multimode offset launch fiber connected to the transmitter, and a second conventional
graded-index multimode optical fiber connected to the receiver. The use of a plug-to-plug patch cord
maximizes the power budget of multimode 1000BASE-LX and 1000BASE-LH links.
1Gray color identifier 5Single-mode bar
2To Gigabit Ethernet interface 6Offset
3Blue color identifier 7Beige color identifier
4Multimode bar 8To cable plant
/ / / // /TX
Offset
RX
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