Optical folding-flash analog-to-digital converter with analog encoding.

We describe an optically assisted folding-flash analog-to-digital converter. The periodic transfer function of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer is used to perform analog folding on the electronic signal to be quantized. A novel analog encoding scheme for efficient generation of gray code digital data is proposed. The new encoding scheme eliminates the requirement for interferometers with ultralow V(pi), which, so far, has hindered the development of such systems. The encoding concept is experimentally demonstrated through the use of LiNbO(3) modulators.