As the nonlinear capacity limit of single mode fiber (SMF) transmission systems is being approached, space-division multiplexing (SDM) in multicore fibers (MCFs) or few-mode fibers (FMFs) is currently under intense investigations to achieve ultrahigh spectral efficiency per fiber. Meanwhile, a key advantage of SDM over simply increasing the number of SMFs, is its inherent device integration and resource sharing capability. This can potentially provide significant benefits in terms of the cost per bit in future optical networks. In order to efficiently address capacity scaling in a single optical fiber, few-mode and multicore erbium-doped fiber amplifiers are being developed. Critical for the implementation of SDM amplifiers is to achieve almost the same amount of gain for all spatial channels. In this respect, we have recently demonstrated multimode fiber amplifiers, supporting >15 modes, with a maximum differential modal gain of 2 dB and negligible mode mixing.