Optical quantizer based on multimode interference coupler

Abstract

The invention discloses an optical quantizer based on a multimode interference coupler. The optical quantizer comprises: a multimode interference coupler provided with M input ports and N output ports, and used for equally splitting the power of an optical signal input by any one input port to each output port; and N output optical path structures, wherein each output optical path structure comprises: a photoelectric detector for converting an optical signal output by the output port into a current signal, an amplifier for amplifying the current signal output by the photoelectric detector into a voltage signal, a comparator for comparing the voltage signal output by the amplifier with a preset threshold voltage so as to output a corresponding binary signal, and a decoder connected with the N output optical path structures and used for decoding and integrating the multiple paths of binary signals output by the comparators in the output optical path structures so as to output multi-bit binary signals. The optical quantizer provided by the invention can simplify the complexity of the sampling structure and the quantization structure.

Description

technical field [0001] The invention relates to the field of integrated optoelectronic devices, in particular to an optical quantizer based on a multimode interference coupler. Background technique [0002] Optical ADC plays an important role in high-speed analog-to-digital signal processing systems. It is considered to be able to break through the electronic bottleneck of traditional electrical ADCs. In current optical ADCs, it can be divided into electrical quantization optical ADCs according to different quantization principles and methods. ADC and optical quantization type optical ADC, among which, optical quantization type optical ADC can be divided into optical quantization type optical ADC based on free space quantization scheme and optical quantization type optical ADC based on on-chip chip integration scheme. Since the electrical quantization optical ADC will be limited by the performance of the electrical ADC, the optical quantization optical ADC based on the free ...

AI Technical Summary

Problems solved by technology

Since the electrical quantization optical ADC will be limited by the performance of the electrical ADC, the optical quantization optical ADC based on the free space quantization scheme is not conducive to integration and is easily affected by mechanical vibration, making the optical quantization optical ADC based on the on-chip chip integration scheme a research topic. Hotspots

[0003] The existing optical quantization optical ADC based on the on-chip chip integration scheme usually uses the Mach-Zehnder interferometer as the core structure of the on-chip optical quantization, but this scheme will lead to a more complex structure. As the number of quantization bits increases, it is necessary to use Several Mach-Zehnder interferometers and the length of the modulation arm waveguide in different Mach-Zehnder interferometers need to satisfy the geometric sequence with a ratio of 2. When the number of Mach-Zehnder interferometers increases, the length of the modulation arm waveguide is Exponential growth, and the analog signal needs to be applied to the modulation arm waveguides of all Mach-Zehnder interferometers at the same time, resulting in high complexity of the active structure, and the process of different Mach-Zehnder interferometer modulation arm waveguide lengths Manufacturing requirements are also higher

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