Digitally linearized wide-band photonic link

A photonic analog-to-digital (A/D) link with third-order distortion suppression is proposed and demonstrated. Experimental results with single-and two-tone analog input signals and a one giga-sample per second (GSPS) photonic A/D system with 500-MHz instantaneous bandwidth are presented. The application of a simple time-domain linearization scheme results in distortion suppression approaching 30 dB and allows optical modulation depths over 80%.