Communications system employing single-mode lasers and multimode optical fibers

An optical transmission system having a single mode laser that generates an optical signal that is carried by a multimode optical fiber to a receiver is disclosed. The single mode laser has an emitting aperture from which the optical signal is routed to the input end of the multimode optical fiber. The receiver receives light from the output end of the optical fiber. The receiver includes an equalizer that corrects the received light for modal dispersion introduced by the multimode optical fiber. Light leaving the emitting aperture of the laser is introduced into the multimode optical fiber in a pattern that excites a subset of the plurality of optical transmission modes thereby reducing the modal dispersion introduced into the light signal and stabilizing the dispersion in time. The improved dispersion enables further correction of the dispersion through the utilization of equalization techniques.