in fig4 where the optical conductor remains virtually undistorted from its relaxed circular cross sectional shape if necessary the walls 80 of the connector can be shortened to insure the desired compression of the optical conductor several variations are contemplated for example fig1 4 show electrical conductors 54 totally encapsulated by sheath material referring to fig4 the distance between the outer surface of optical conductor 50 and the electrical conductors 54 can be reduced such that the optical conductor itself provides the majority of the dielectric insulation between the electrical conductors in those applications where the optical circuitry is not excessively degraded the forked ends 64 of terminal 62 can make direct contact with the lateral surface portions of the optical conductor as can be seen in the cross sectional view of fig4 it is generally desired that the diameter of optical conductor 50 be substantially greater than the diameter of electrical conductors 54 assuming that penetration of terminal 62 into the laterally opposed sides of optical conductor 50 is not objectionable the portions of sheath 52 between electrical conductors 54 and optical conductor 50 can be significantly reduced or eliminated it is generally desirable that sheath 52 surrounds both the optical conductor and the electrical conductors as indicated in fig3 in order to fix the multi mode i e optical and electrical conductors in the desired flat or ribbon cable geometry it should be noted that while the optical conductor provides electrical insulation for.