APC Angled Physical Contact

An abbreviation for angled physical contact.

The APC, angled physical contact, Connector is best for high Bandwidth applications and long haul links since it offers the lowest return Loss (RL) characteristics of connectors currently available. In an APC connector, the endface of a Termination is polished precisely at an 8-degree angle to the Fiber Cladding so that most RL is reflected into the cladding where it cannot interfere with the transmitted signal or damage the Laser source. As a result, APC connectors offer a superior RL performance of -65 dB. It is extremely difficult to field terminate an Angled Physical Contact connector at 8 degrees with any consistent level of success. Therefore, if an APC connector is damaged in the field it should be replaced with a factory terminated APC connector. See glossary definition for end face