Ultra-Wide Bandwidth and High Resolution Photonic Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog Converters

标题：超宽带高分辨率光子模拟数字和数字模拟转换器摘要：非技术：在当今技术驱动的世界里，数字电子和数字系统无处不在。他们的硬件和软件是每天多次接触我们生活的一切的精髓。现实生活中的系统产生的模拟信号需要转换成数字形式，然后才能通过数字技术进行处理。这是使用模数转换器(ADC)来完成的。几乎所有现有的ADC都是电子化的。有许多类型的ADC，具有不同的分辨率和速度。随着ADC分辨率的提高，其保真度也显著提高。尽管电子ADC提供了非常高的分辨率，但它们的运行速度并不是很快。这项提议旨在开发一种高速ADC光子学技术，在不牺牲分辨率的情况下运行。同样的技术也被用于光纤通信系统，人们很好地理解了这一点，其部件也可以在商业上买到。然而，在演示整个ADC之前，需要开发一些特殊的元件。该项目将开发和制造这样的组件，并展示ADC的概念运行证明。这种高分辨率、高速度的ADC将在仪器仪表、雷达、光纤通信和宽带信号分配等领域得到广泛应用。技术：该方案介绍了一种新的、新颖的光子ADC方法，它可以在20 GHz或更高的带宽上提供8位的分辨率。所提出的基本ADC非常类似于没有光纤的波分复用(WDM)光纤数字链路。它由多波长光源、量化器、采样器、解复用器和接收器组成。量化器是一种高速马赫-曾德尔调制器(MZM)，其臂之间有有意的路径长度差。采样在量化器之后进行。不同波长的采样输出产生与施加到量化器的模拟信号的数字化版本相对应的代码。通过使用子测距方法在减少分量计数的同时提高比特数，改进了这一基本思想。这需要一个数模转换器(DAC)，它可以由单个MZM制成。这种ADC的实际工作要求量化器和DAC使用低电压、高速的MZM。还可以使用这种MZM执行所需的超低抖动采样。该方案的重点是开发这些关键部件，即量化器、数模转换器和采样器，并对缩小版的ADC进行概念验证。

Title: Ultra-Wide Bandwidth and High Resolution Photonic Analog to Digital and Digital to Analog ConvertersAbstract:Nontechnical: In today's technology driven world digital electronics and digital systems are ubiquitous. Their hardware and software are the essence of everything that touches our lives many times a day. Real life systems generate analog signals which need to be converted into digital form before they can be handled by digital technology. This is done using an Analog to Digital Converter (ADC). Almost all the existing ADCs are electronic. There are many types of ADCs with different resolution and speed. As the resolution of an ADC increases its fidelity improves significantly. Although electronic ADCs provide very high resolution they do not operate very fast. This proposal aims to develop a high speed ADC photonics technology which operates without sacrificing resolution. The same technology is used in fiber optic communication systems, is well understood and its parts are commercially available. However, a few special components need to be developed before the entire ADC can be demonstrated. This project will develop and fabricate such components and demonstrate a proof of concept operation of the ADC. Such high resolution and fast ADC will improve many applications, such as instrumentation, radar, optical fiber communication and wide bandwidth signal distribution. Technical: This proposal introduces a new and novel approach for a photonic ADC that can deliver eight bits of resolution at bandwidths of 20 GHz and higher. The proposed basic ADC resembles very much to a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) fiber optic digital link without the fiber. It consists of a multi wavelength source, a quantizer, a sampler, a demultiplexer and receivers. The quantizer is a high-speed Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) with an intentional path length difference between its arms. The sampling is done after the quantizer. The sampled outputs at different wavelengths generate a code corresponding to the digitized version of the analog signal applied to the quantizer. This basic idea is improved upon using a subranging approach to improve the number of bits while reducing the component count. This requires a digital to analog converter (DAC), which can be made out of a single MZM. The practical operation of such an ADC requires low-voltage and high-speed MZM for quantizer and DAC. The required ultra-low jitter sampling can also be performed using such MZMs. The focus of this proposal is to develop these critical components, namely the quantizer, DAC and the sampler, and make a proof of concept demonstration of a scaled down version of the ADC.