Photonic time stretch and its application to analog-to-digital conversion

Author

Coppinger, F. ; Bhushan, A.S. ; Jalali, B.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng., California Univ., Los Angeles, CA, USA

Volume

47

Issue

7

fYear

1999

fDate

7/1/1999 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

1309

Lastpage

1314

Abstract

We demonstrate a new concept for analog-to-digital (A/D) conversion based on photonic time stretch. The analog electrical signal is intensity modulated on a chirp optical waveform generated by dispersing an ultrashort pulse. The modulated chirped waveform is dispersed in an optical fiber, leading to the stretching of its envelope. We have derived analytical expressions for the stretch factor and the resolution of the system. An analog-to-digital converter (ADC) consisting of the photonic time-stretch preprocessor and a 1-Gsample/s electronic ADC is demonstrated. This technique is promising for A/D conversion of ultrafast signals and, hence, for realization of the digital receiver

Keywords

analogue-digital conversion; chirp modulation; fibre lasers; laser beam applications; laser mode locking; microwave photonics; optical fibres; optical modulation; ADC application; analog-to-digital conversion; chirp optical waveform; digital receiver; electronic ADC; optical fiber; photonic time stretch; stretch factor; system resolution; time-stretch preprocessor; ultrafast signals; ultrashort pulse dispersion; Chirp modulation; Distributed power generation; Intensity modulation; Optical fiber dispersion; Optical modulation; Optical pulse generation; Optical receivers; Pulse modulation; Signal generators; Ultrafast optics;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9480

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/22.775471

Filename

775471