Abstract

Achieving ultra high-speed arbitrary signal generation with conventional electronic digital-to-analog converters (DACs) is becoming extremely challenging, owing to the inherent bandwidth limitations due to interconnect and device parasitics in electronic circuits. Using optical techniques, and leveraging the advantages of photonic integration, a power-efficient solution for high-speed high-precision digital-to-analog conversion is proposed. A framework presenting resolution, power consumption and bandwidth tradeoffs for performance analysis of the photonic digital-to-analog converter (PDAC) with different configurations, is shown. The proposed PDAC concept is demonstrated in a proof-of-concept experimental setup, generating multi-level signals at up to 21.5 GBd.

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