Abstract
Photonic digital-to-analog converters (PDACs) with segmented design can achieve better performance than conventional binary PDACs in terms of effective number of bits (ENOB) and spurious-free dynamic range (SFDR). However, segmented PDACs generally require an increased amount of laser sources. Here, a structure of bipolar segmented PDAC based on laser wavelength multiplexing and balanced detection is proposed. The number of lasers is reduced by a half compared to a conventional segmented design with the same nominal resolution. Moreover, ideal bipolar output with no direct-current bias can be achieved with balanced detection. A proof-of-concept setup with a sampling rate of 10 GSa/s is constructed by employing only four lasers. The PDAC consists of four unary weighted channels and four ternary weighted channels. The measured ENOB and SFDR are 4.6 bits and 37.0 dBc, respectively. Generation of high-quality linear frequency-modulated radar waveforms with an instantaneous bandwidth of 4 GHz is also demonstrated.
© 2023 Optica Publishing Group
Full Article | PDF ArticleMore Like This
Jiading Li, Xiaoxiao Xue, Shangyuan Li, and Xiaoping Zheng
Appl. Opt. 61(14) 4055-4062 (2022)
Jinxin Liao, He Wen, Xiaoping Zheng, Hanyi Zhang, Yili Guo, and Bingkun Zhou
Opt. Lett. 37(9) 1502-1504 (2012)
Ruiheng Qin, Na Qian, Defu Zhou, Bowen Ma, and Weiwen Zou
Opt. Lett. 48(20) 5324-5327 (2023)