Breakthroughs in Photonics 2012: Space-Division Multiplexing in Multimode and Multicore Fibers for High-Capacity Optical Communication

We summarize the latest advances in space-division multiplexing (SDM) for increasing the capacity per fiber strand. We discuss SDM fibers, recent SDM transmission experiments, subsystems suitable for SDM systems, as well as integrated components able to manipulate multiple spatial modes within a single optical device.