High-speed optical sampling system combined with cavity-less pulse source

High-speed optical sampling can overcome the limitation faced by electronic systems, such as bandwidth and precision. In this work, a 4-fold optical sampling time-parallelization is combined with a cavity-less 10GHz pulse source. The 4-fold sampling time-parallelization is based on a 1x4 optical switching matrix. Three dual-outputs Mach-Zehnder modulators (D-MZM) in cascaded configuration are included. Instead of a 10GHz repetition mode-locked laser (MLL), a cavity-less 10GHz pulse source is designed and used to provide the 10GHz modulated pulse as used in the switching matrix, which consists of a Mach-Zehnder amplitude modulator (MZM), a phase modulator (PM) and a highly dispersive optical fiber. We demonstrate a 4-fold sample time-parallelization with a high repetition rate up to 10GHz and 2.5GHz per channel, also with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 30dB, and combined with a 10GHz cavity-less pulse source with a pulsewidth of 9ps, which can be used into the advancements in radar and telecommunication systems. (paper)