| Abstract: | Methods and apparatus for optical analog to digital conversion are
disclosed. An optical signal is converted by mapping the optical analog
signal onto a wavelength modulated optical beam, passing the mapped beam
through interferometers to generate analog bit representation signals,
and converting the analog bit representation signals into an optical
digital signal. A photodiode receives an optical analog signal, a
wavelength modulated laser coupled to the photodiode maps the optical
analog signal to a wavelength modulated optical beam, interferometers
produce an analog bit representation signal from the mapped wavelength
modulated optical beam, and sample and threshold circuits corresponding
to the interferometers produce a digital bit signal from the analog bit
representation signal. |