A prototype encoding scheme for electrooptic analog to digital converters

摘要

Communications and electronic warfare advances continue to place increasing demands on conventional analog to digital converter designs. This report presents the first experimental prototype system for the use of multiple Mach Zehnder interferometers as a sampling medium coupled with an electrical encoding scheme based on a symmetrical number system. In addition, a novel error detection scheme is discussed. The new technique provides an improvement in the resolution of electrooptic analog to digital systems beyond the traditional one bit per interferometer and increases the potential bandwidth of these systems to the radio frequency spectrum. The thesis presents the optical bench and electrical design to support this concept and describes a low frequency proof of concept test. Component selection and system alignment procedures are included along with test results and problematic areas.