Patent ID: 9201287
Filing Date: 2015-12-01
Classification: G02F,H03M

Abstract:
1. A photonic analog-to-digital converter comprising: a tunable light source that produces an optical signal at a variable wavelength corresponding to analog levels of an electrical input signal; an optical sampling clock source that produces an optical sampling clock signal that defines a sequence of sampling periods; an optical splitter, operably coupled to the tunable light source, that splits the optical signal produced by the tunable light source for supply to a plurality of optical signal processing channels, wherein each one of the optical signal processing channels includes a photonic filter and corresponding optoelectronic thyristor comparator that is operably coupled to the optical sampling clock source, wherein the optoelectronic thyristor comparator operates as a discriminator that generates a digital electrical signal representing whether the optical signal produced by the tunable light source has a wavelength that lies within a predetermined wavelength quantization level during the sampling periods defined by the optical sampling clock source; and circuitry that generates a digital word corresponding to the digital electrical signals generated by the optoelectronic thyristor comparators of the plurality of optical signal processing channels.