10 Gsample/s photonic analog-to-digital converter constructed using 10-wavelength jitter-suppressed sampling pulses from a self-seeded laser diode

Abstract

To meet the growing demand for the processing of high frequency microwave signals, a high-speed analog-to-digital converter (ADC) serves as the key interface between a fast analog signal and a digital signal processor. Recently, photonic ADCs that make use of a time and wavelength-interleaved pulse train or time stretching of a broadband pulse have been demonstrated. We report the use of a 10-channel wavelength-interleaved picosecond pulse source in a photonic ADC. The source is produced by sub-harmonic pulse-gating together with sequential self-seeding of the cavity modes of a directly modulated FP laser diode in a dispersion managed fiber cavity. The output pulse train has been successfull..