Award for Creativity in Engineering

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An ADC is a device which is used to sample an analog signal and converts it into a digital code proportional to its amplitude. Nyquist theory states that the sampling frequency must be at least twice the maximum frequency of the analog signal. Thus the speed of existing ADCs limit the application of digital electronics in systems that have wide bandwidth signals. There are applications which demand bandwidths that exceed several hundred megahertz. Exploratory developments of electrooptic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) capable of operating at 1 GHz with 6-bit resolution have been reported. This bit and frequency range is of interest because existing silicon and gallium arsenide technology have not been demonstrated above this range. %%% The purpose of the proposed research is to develop a wide bandwidth electrooptic ADC which operates at 10 GHz with 6-bit resolution.