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<p>The integration of photonic and electronic components to realize a photonic sigma delta ADC is considered in this  thesis. The integration process was broken up into steps. First, the performance of a pair of dual-port Mach-Zehnder  interferometers (MZI) modulating a train of narrow high-speed laser pulses from a mode-locked laser was  investigated. Various parameters like the half-wave voltage (V) and insertion loss were verified. Next, the ability of  the MZIs to modulate the laser pulses, including the subtraction of two RF signals going into the two RF ports, was  investigated. After that, the performance of a high-speed comparator circuit was evaluated. The comparator circuit  was implemented using high-speed analog components capable of supporting data rates of up to 50 Gbps. The  comparator components have to be tested individually and then integrated to ensure that they are able to amplitude  analyze the modulated laser pulses using their respective matching threshold values. Lastly, the performance of the  ring resonator, which was fabricated by the University of California Santa Barbara, was investigated. The ring  resonator functions as an accumulator in the photonic ADC.  In addition, a MATLAB simulation designed previously was used to simulate the behavior of the photonic  sigma delta ADC. It was modified to speed up the simulation time and incorporate actual hardware parameters,  including the time and amplitude jitter of the mode-locked laser. These laser parameters were characterized using a  high-speed sampling oscilloscope. Thus, it was possible to predict the performance of the ADC under adverse effects  as well as to show how the various electrical and optical signals appear at different parts of the circuit, which greatly  adds to the efficiency of the integration process.
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<br>Subjects:</div>
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Tan, Yean Wee</div>
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