LAUSR

A compact seven-channel hybrid mode- and polarization-division multiplexer based on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide platform is proposed for on-chip optical interconnects. Three independent signals are coupled into the TE0, TM0, and TE1 mode of a three moded waveguide using a taper, a polarization beam splitter, and an asymmetric directional coupler in the first coupler section. In the adiabatically connected second and third sections, two collocated asymmetric directional couplers are used to couple two TE modes (TE2, TE3) and two TM modes (TM1, TM2) to reduce the footprint of the device. A coupling length of ∼44.29µm is achieved with low insertion loss <0.09dB and crosstalk better than -30dB at the designed wavelength of 1.55 µm.