Multimode Waveguides and Multimode Ring Resonator Filters on Silicon-on-Insulator

In optical communications the rate of information transfer in a single waveguide can be increased by orders of magnitude by modulating signals onto separate channels. Mode-division multiplexing (MDM) is a new and exciting method that can increase waveguide channel numbers while using only a single laser source. Silicon photonics stands to benefit from MDM, however conventional optical devices fabricated in silicon make use of only one mode, and it is typically non-trivial to make these devices compatible with the large number of modes needed for MDM. The purpose of this thesis is to develop MDM on the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) platform through the numerical simulation and experimental demonstration of multimode waveguides, low-crosstalk waveguide bends, multiplexers, and mode-selective filters.