Optical splitter is one of the most important passive devices in optical fiber link, generally being used to realize optical signal splitter between OLT (Optical Line Terminal) and ONU (Optical Network Unit) in passive optical network.

Optical splitter distributes optical signals from one optical fiber to multiple optical fibers. There are many forms of distribution, including 1×2, 1×4, 1×N, or 2×4, M×N. The general framework of FTTH is OLT - ODN - ONU, with optical splitter being applied in ODN, to enable multiple end users to share a PON interface. In PON framework, when the buildings are scattered and irregular, such as villas, with long distance and low user density, the centralized splitting method can make full use of resources to cover the surrounding area. In a passive optical network, only one optical splitter may be used, or multiple optical splitters may be used to divide optical signals together.

Performance Indicators of Optical Splitters

Insertion Loss

The insertion loss of a fiber splitter refers to the number of dB of output loss relative to input optical loss in each path. The smaller the insertion loss, the better the performance.

Splitting Ratio

Optical splitter ratio refers to the output power ratio of each output port of an optical fiber splitter. Generally, the splitter ratio of PLC optical splitter is evenly distributed, while that of FBT splitter cannot be equally divided. The specific ratio setting of the splitting ratio is related to the wavelength of the transmitted light.

Isolation

Isolation refers to the isolation ability of a certain optical path of the fiber splitter from optical signals in other optical paths.

Return Loss

Return loss is the power loss of an optical signal returned or reflected by discontinuity in an optical fiber or transmission line. The higher the return loss, the better, to reduce the impact of reflected light on the light source and the system.

In addition, parameters such as uniformity, directivity and PDL polarization loss are also the factors that can affect the performance of optical splitter. Fiber optic splitter is one of the most important passive devices in fiber optic link, especially suitable for connecting MDF and terminal devices to distribute optical signals in passive optical network (EPON, GPON, BPON, FTTX, FTTH, etc.)