The invention relates to method and apparatus for transmitting an optical signal having optical energy substantially in a high order spatial mode. The optical waveguide, in one embodiment, includes a few mode fiber designed to have specific transmission characteristics for supporting the single high order spatial mode, and the few mode fiber transmits the single high order spatial mode. The optical waveguide, in one embodiment, has a dispersion and a dispersion slope for a given transmission bandwidth. Another aspect of the invention includes a method for transmitting an optical signal having optical energy substantially in a single high order spatial mode. The method includes the steps of providing a few mode fiber, which supports optical energy in the single high order spatial mode. In one embodiment, the single high order spatial mode is the LP02 spatial mode. In another embodiment, the few mode fiber supports an optical signal having optical energy having less than twenty spatial modes.