在光纤通信中，单模光纤是一种设计用来发送单一光束(模)的光纤。通常此光束内有多种波长的光。虽然光束发送路径与光纤平行，但通常称之为transverse mode，因其电磁波振荡方向垂直于光纤。

单模光纤不像多模光纤会色散，单模光纤不会色散。单模光纤在维持长距离光脉冲的精确度上也比多模光纤好。所以单模光纤可通过的带宽比多模光纤宽。而单模的相关设备也较贵。但单模光纤本身比多模光纤便宜。

典型的光纤纤核直径在8到10µm而加上被覆纤壳的直径是125 µm；可通过的光的波长是1310或1550 nm。单模光纤在物理或化学性质上的不同性质可以做出多的特别规格，如非零色散光纤及零色散光纤。单模光纤通常为黄色外皮以与橙色外皮的多模光纤区分。

In fiber-optic communication, a single-mode optical fiber (SMF) is an optical fiber designed to carry light only directly down the fiber - the transverse mode. Modes are the possible solutions of the Helmholtz equation for waves, which is obtained by combining Maxwell's equations and the boundary conditions. These modes define the way the wave travels through space, i.e. how the wave is distributed in space. Waves can have the same mode but have different frequencies. This is the case in single-mode fibers, where we can have waves with different frequencies, but of the same mode, which means that they are distributed in space in the same way, and that gives us a single ray of light. Although the ray travels parallel to the length of the fiber, it is often called transverse mode since its electromagnetic vibrations occur perpendicular (transverse) to the length of the fiber. The 2009 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to Charles K. Kao for his theoretical work on the single-mode optical fiber.