Terahertz Analogue-to-Digital Conversion Using Photonic Chipscale Soliton Frequency Combs and Massively Parallel Spectrally Sliced Detection

A new approach to analogue-to-digital converters

Digital signal processing (DSP) analyses and remodels a signal to improve its performance. The recent improvements in DSP performance have led to digital processors that permit real-time processing of ultra-broadband signals with analogue bandwidths of hundreds of GHz. However, securing such signals is still impossible as conventional analogue-to-digital converters (ADC) have limited bandwidth scalability. The EU-funded TeraSlice project will investigate and test concepts aimed at overcoming such limitations. It will apply photonically supported spectral parallelisation of ADC interfaces to convert waveforms with bandwidths over 300 GHz with possibilities for further scalability. The TeraSlice concept is disruptive and has a potential impact on a wide range of applications including radar systems and wireless communication.