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The Connector With the Longest History

Published: July 13, 2018
, Last updated: September 10, 2025

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QUESTION:

Which connector has the longest history?

 

ANSWER:

The first connector to be accepted as a widely used standard in the early days of the fiber optic industry, in the late 1970s, was designed by Amphenol in CT as a variation of their coaxial electrical connect known as subminiature assembly, or SMA. In those days, fiber was multimode and the clad diameters were 125 um and up, to 230 and 1000 um. For the smallest sizes, Amphenol developed a unique and patented design that used four tightly machined metal rods in a larger hole in the connector ferrule. The rods were uniformly round enough to place the fiber in the center of the connector and allow for acceptable insertion losses of 1.25 - 2 dB per km at 850 nm.

READ THE FULL BLOG ARTICLE HERE: What is an SMA connector and why do we care?

 

ADDITIONAL CONTENT & RESOURCES:

 

  Answered by AskFOC Technical Team: July 13, 2018

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About the Author
FOC FAQ Fiber Optic Center has a team of technical experts and marketing strategists with decades of years in the field. This team contributes to the fiber, cable and specialty industries coverage through news, alerts, reports and general media information.
About Fiber Optic Center, Inc.
Fiber Optic Center, Inc., (FOC), is an international leader in distributing fiber optic components, equipment, materials, and supplies known for helping customers make the best cable assemblies in the world for over three decades. Material property consultation is provided by technical experts for lapping film, epoxy, adhesives, optical coatings, and optical plastics during application specific material selection. Technical process expertise is offered in several key technology areas. Specialized expertise includes cable assembly line mastery, fiber broadband field installation best practices, and technical advancements in telecom, datacom, data centers, and hyperscale. Optical cable specification development includes design and quality testing. FOC's impact reaches the network physical capabilities through fiber manufacturing process expertise from preform fabrication and shaping, fiber drawing, and coating requirements for double clad fibers used for high power fiber laser applications to solution doping, vapor phase doping, rare earth chelates and halide recipe consultation. Fiber Optic Center is the preferred choice for the world’s fiber professionals as the industry connection to the most innovative optical products, technologies and technical experts who integrate their manufacturing knowledge and vast experience into customers' worldwide operations. @FiberOpticCntr

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