Photonic assisted analog-to-digital conversion using phase detection

An apparatus for sampling and digitizing a plurality of electrical input signals, comprising:

• one or more optical signal inputs, a plurality of electrical input signals, an optical interferometer that contains a plurality of optical modulators in parallel, where each optical modulator is fed by an input optical signal of different wavelength and each optical modulator is driven by one of the plurality of electrical input signals, an optical signal digitization block that receives the plurality of optical output signals from the optical interferometers and digitizes them, a digital signal processor (DSP) that receives the digitized outputs from the optical signal digitization block and processes the digitized outputs to calculate a digitized value for the plurality of electrical input signals, wherein the sampling frequency of the digitization can be different for the different wavelengths.

A method of sampling and digitizing at least one electrical signal, comprising:

• sampling at least one electrical input signal by sending optical pulses through a multiple-output optical interferometer that contains at least one optical modulator that is modulated by the electrical input signal, digitizing the outputs of the optical interferometer, processing the digitized outputs of the optical interferometer to calculate the digitized electrical input signals at the sample times, and multiplexing a calibration signal with the electrical input signal the processing parameters used for optimally digitizing the electrical input signal.