Integrated photonic threshold comparator based on square-wave synthesis

A photonic threshold comparator is presented. A step-like electrical-to-optical (E/O) response is obtained by employing Fourier series synthesis in which a set of sine-wave responses of different amplitudes and phases are superimposed according to the Fourier series representation of a square-wave. The proposed comparator does not rely on optical material non-linearity; rather it consists of multimode interference (MMI) couplers and phase shifters.