PHOTONIC ANALOG-TO-DIGITAL CONVERTER UTILIZING WAVELENGTH DIVISION MULTIPLEXING AND DISTRIBUTED OPTICAL PHASE MODULATION

A new pipeline method and apparatus for photonic analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) utilizing wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) and distributed phase modulation is disclosed. The analog-to-digital conversion is performed within the optical system of the ADC, and thus the optical output is a digital bit pattern. The optical output of this system thus facilitates ADC conversion at much higher speeds than available with conventional electronic ADCs. Phase modulators and polarization-based optics are used to map an input analog waveform into a binary output.