We demonstrate a novel on-chip two-mode division multiplexing circuit using a tapered directional coupler-based TE₀&TE₁ mode multiplexer and demultiplexer on the silicon-on-insulator platform. A low insertion loss (0.3 dB), low mode crosstalk (< −16 dB), wide bandwidth (~100 nm), and large fabrication tolerance (20 nm) are measured. An on-chip mode multiplexing experiment is carried out on the fabricated circuit with non return-to-zero (NRZ) on-off keying (OOK) signals at 40 Gbit/s. The experimental results show clear eye diagrams and moderate power penalty for both TE₀ and TE₁ modes.

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We present an efficient method to design apodized grating couplers with Gaussian output profiles for efficient coupling between standard single mode fibers and silicon chips. An apodized grating coupler using fully etched photonic crystal holes on the silicon-on-insulator platform is designed, and fabricated in a single step of lithography and etching. An ultralow coupling loss of $-1.74\mathrm{dB}$ (67% coupling efficiency) with a 3 dB bandwidth of 60 nm is experimentally measured.