A comparison of single mode and multimode fiber links for use in wireless‐over‐fiber systems

Abstract This article compares the performance of standard single mode fiber (SMF) with 62.5/125 μm multimode fiber (MMF) for radio‐over‐fiber links using 850 nm multimode vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. The results show SMF links suffer from a coupling loss of 15.3 dB which is compensated by the low loss of SMF compared to MMF in the 2.4–5 GHz radio band. Standard SMF is not single moded at 850 nm and mode filters are employed to obtain a smooth modulation response. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 51: 1445–1449, 2009; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.24362