Parallel conversion between optical and digital

1. An electro-optic module for receiving and detecting a respective one optical channel light λn including a high-bandwidth data signal modulated thereon, the electro-optic module including:

an optical hybrid for mixing the optical channel light λn with a corresponding one continuous wave local oscillator light to generate a mixed light containing the high-bandwidth data signal;

at least one photodetector; and

an analog frequency decimator for generating a set of two or more parallel analog signals, each analog signal representing a respective portion of the high-bandwidth signal.

2. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 1 ,

wherein the analog frequency decimator comprises:

an analog 1:N splitter for supplying an input signal to a set of N (where N is an integer greater than 1) parallel signal paths, each signal path corresponding to a respective one of the parallel analog signals;

a respective non-linear processor connected in each of M signal paths, where M is an integer and 0<M≦N, for processing the input signal using a respective branch signal to yield a corresponding composite signal; and

a respective Low-Pass Filter (LPF) connected in each signal path, for low-pass filtering the respective composite signal to generate the corresponding one of the parallel analog signals.

3. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the analog 1:N splitter comprises a single N-way divider stage.

4. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the analog 1:N splitter comprises at least two divider stages.

5. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 4 , wherein a first divider stage is implemented in the optical domain; and a second divider stage is implemented in the electrical domain.

6. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 5 , wherein:

the first divider stage is connected to receive the mixed light as the input signal;

the at least one photodetector comprises a respective photodetector connected to receive light from each output of the first divider stage and generating a corresponding photodetector signal; and

the second divider stage comprises a respective divider connected to receive each photodetector signal to generate the set of parallel analog signals.

7. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , wherein the respective non-linear processor connected in each signal path comprises a radio Frequency (RF) signal combiner.

8. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , wherein:

the at least one photodetector is connected to receive the mixed light and generate a corresponding photodetector signal including the high-bandwidth signal; and

the analog frequency decimator is connected to receive the photodetector signal as the input signal, and to process the photodetector signal in the electrical domain to generate the set of parallel analog signals.

9. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , wherein:

the respective non-linear processor connected in each signal path comprises either one of an optical signal combiner and a variable optical attenuator, for processing the mixed light with a respective branch signal to yield a corresponding optical composite signal; and

the at least one photodetector comprises a respective photodetector connected in each signal path, for receiving the optical composite signal and generating a corresponding photodetector signal.

10. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 , further comprising a signal generator for generating the branch signals as a set of parallel digital signals having predetermined frequency and phase relationships.

11. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 10 , wherein N=4, and the high-bandwidth signal comprises signal components of interest lying within a frequency range extending between −f/2 and +f/2; and wherein:

the set of parallel digital signals are square-wave branch signals including: a first intermediate frequency branch signal having a frequency of f/4; a second intermediate frequency branch signal having a frequency of f/4 and a phase offset of 90° relative to the first intermediate frequency branch signal, and a high-frequency branch signal having a frequency of f/2 and a phase offset of 0° relative to the first intermediate frequency branch signal; and

each LPF has a bandwidth of f/8.

12. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the high-bandwidth signal comprises signal components of interest lying within a frequency range extending between −f/2 and +f/2; and wherein:

the set of parallel digital signals comprises N short duty-cycle digital branch signals having a frequency of f/N and a relative phase offset of 2π/N relative to each other; and

each LPF has a bandwidth of B=f/(2N).

13. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 12 , wherein the respective non-linear processor connected in each signal path comprises a signal sampler cascaded with a sample filter, the signal sampler being responsive to a respective branch signal to supply the input signal to the sample filter.

14. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the signal sampler comprises a logical-AND gate.

15. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the sample filter is designed to exhibit a raised cosine filter characteristic.

16. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 13 , wherein the sample filter comprises a Resistor/Capacitor (RC) circuit.

17. The electro-optic module as claimed in claim 12 , wherein a duty cycle of each short duty-cycle branch signal is less than 1 percent.

18. A coherent optical receiver comprising:

the electro-optic module as claimed in claim 2 ; and

an electronic signal processing Integrated Circuit (IC) connected to the electro-optic module via a parallel analog transmission line, the electronic signal processing IC comprising:

a respective Analog-to-digital (A/D) converter for sampling each one of the set of parallel analog signals, and for generating corresponding parallel digital sample streams; and

a digital signal processor (DSP) for processing the parallel digital sample streams to extract the high-bandwidth data signal.

19. The coherent optical receiver as claimed in claim 18 , wherein each ND converter is controlled to oversample its respective analog signal at a sample rate Fs which is greater than that required to satisfy the Nyquist criterion.

20. The coherent optical receiver as claimed in claim 19 , wherein an oversampling ratio of each ND converter is 8/7.

21. The coherent optical receiver as claimed in claim 18 , further comprising a signal generator for generating the branch signals as a set of parallel short duty-cycle digital signals having a frequency of f/N and a relative phase offset of 2π/N relative to each other; wherein:

each LPF has a bandwidth of B=f/(2N); and

each ND converter is controlled to sample its respective analog signal at a sample rate Fs of f/N.