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Updated: Jul 2, 2026

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Fabrication And Characterization Of Photonic Crystal Slow Light Waveguides And Cavities
Published on: November 30, 2012
Coded output photonic A/D converter based on photonic crystal slow-light structures
Sunkyu Yu1, Sukmo Koo, Namkyoo Park
1Photonic Systems Laboratory, School of EECS, Seoul National University, Seoul 151-744, Korea.
Optics Express
|September 6, 2008
Summary
This study proposes a compact photonic analog-to-digital converter (PADC) using slow-light technology. The device aims for reduced size and power consumption while achieving high speed and effective number of bits (ENOB).
Area of Science:
- Photonics
- Optical Engineering
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Photonic analog-to-digital converters (PADCs) offer high speed but face challenges in device size and power consumption.
- Slow-light phenomena in photonic crystals can enhance light-matter interaction, potentially enabling smaller and more efficient devices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose and analyze a novel PADC design utilizing a slow-light photonic crystal Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI).
- To investigate the feasibility of reducing device size and power consumption for high-speed PADC operation.
Main Methods:
- Theoretical analysis of a PADC structure based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with index modulation.
- Derivation of limiting factors for device size, speed, and effective number of bits (ENOB) considering slow-light dispersion.
- Time-domain assessment of the proposed device's performance.
Main Results:
- The proposed PADC design demonstrates potential for sub-millimeter device size.
- Achieved high sampling rates of 20GS/s.
- Effective number of bits (ENOB) greater than 5 was projected.
Conclusions:
- The slow-light photonic crystal MZI approach is a viable strategy for developing compact and power-efficient PADCs.
- The proposed design shows promise for high-performance optical signal processing applications.
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