Patent ID: 9052534
Filing Date: 2015-06-09
Classification: G02F,Y10T

Abstract:
1. An optical A/D converter, comprising: an optical splitter that splits an input analog optical signal into a plurality of optical signals; a plurality of Mach-Zehnder interferometers, each of the plurality of optical signals split by the optical splitter being input to the plurality of Mach-Zehnder interferometers; a plurality of optical/electrical conversion units that convert each optical signal output from each of the Mach-Zehnder interferometers into a digital electrical signal, wherein each of the Mach-Zehnder interferometers comprises: wherein the optical modulation region comprises an optical intensity-to-phase conversion unit that shifts a phase of the light input to the second waveguide according to an intensity of the light input to the third waveguide, wherein one of the optical signal and a local light having a wavelength different from that of the optical signal is input to the first and second waveguides, and another of the optical signal and the local light is input to the third waveguide, wherein the optical modulation region outputs the optical signal and the local light separately, and wherein an amount of a phase shifted by the optical intensity-to-phase conversion unit shift differs for said each of the Mach-Zehnder interferometers.