Low Power, Compact Integrated Photonic Sampler Based on a Silicon Ring Modulator

Sampling is the primary functional step of an analogue to digital conversion, required for sensing, measurement, signal processing, metrology, and various data communication applications. Here we present, for the first time, to the best of our knowledge, the optical sampling of different microwave signals with sinc-pulse sequences with a very compact integrated silicon photonics ring modulator. By a simple time interleaving with three branches, the employed ring modulator enables ultra-compact photonic integrated analog to digital converters with a sampling rate of three times the RF bandwidth of itself and of the used photodetector and electronic devices. Therefore, its analogue bandwidth is 50% higher than the RF bandwidth of the incorporated electronics and photonics. Thus, the method might enable high-bandwidth analogue to digital converters with ultra-compact footprint and lower power consumption for future communication systems, sensors, and measurement devices.