Ultrafast InGaAs photoswitch for RF signal processing

Abstract

Optical processing of RF signals is demonstrated in this communication using photoswitches made from Nitrogen Implanted InGaAs. The sampling device shows an ultrafast picosecond response time while activated by ultra-short optical pulses or modulated optical beam centered at the wavelength of 1.55 µm. The optoelectronic device is embedded in a microwave coplanar waveguide which has a high electrical bandwidth allowing to process signals in the 1-67 GHz band. We investigate the potentiality of this component to be used either in photonic assisted sampling for future Analog to Digital Converters or in photonic assisted heterodyne detection of RF modulated carriers.

High‐Speed Optoelectronic Graphene Sampler at 1.55 µm Reaching Intrinsic Performances

“…The rapid progress in low-jitter optical clocks [5,6] opened the possibility to perform optoelectronic sampling [7][8][9][10][11][12][13] with ultra-stable optical pulse trains having extremely low phase noise and jitter (generated by active mode-locked lasers). Optoelectronic subsampling of GHz and THz signals has been demonstrated with optical switches made of GaAs-based films grown at low-temperature [14][15][16][17] paving the way for the efficient sampling of high-frequency signals. III-V semiconductor materials such as low temperature grown GaAs operating at either its optimal wavelength of 0.8 μm [15] or at 1.55 μm [16,17] are particularly studied.…”