Terahertz Analogue-to-Digital Conversion Using Photonic Chipscale Soliton Frequency Combs and Massively Parallel Spectrally Sliced Detection

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High-speed digital signal processing (DSP) has seen tremendous performance increases over the last years, primarily driven by massive parallelization of logic operations in large-scale CMOS circuits. This has led to digital processors that would allow for real-time processing of ultra-broadband signals with analogue bandwidths of hundreds of GHz already today. Acquisition of such signals, however, is still impossible due to limited bandwidth scalability of conventional analogue-to-digital converters (ADC). Within TeraSlice, we will explore and demonstrate concepts that can overcome these limitations by photonically assisted spectral parallelization of ADC interfaces, thereby enabling conversion of waveforms with bandwidths in excess of 300 GHz with the potential for further scalability beyond 1 THz. The TeraSlice approach is disruptive both on a conceptual level and with respect to the underlying devices, comprising low-phase-noise Kerr comb generators and ultra-fast electro-optic modulators. The concept has the potential to disrupt a variety of highly relevant applications with substantial market potential, ranging from radar systems and wireless communications beyond 5G to electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. TeraSlice builds upon an interdisciplinary effort of internationally leading academic and industrial partners with highly complementary expertise. The project covers the theoretical base and the associated quantitative system models, the design, implementation, and test of crucial components and subsystems, as well as application demonstrations of the envisaged ADC scheme, for which we will reach out to other scientific fields such as medical diagnostics. Special focus will be on technological concepts for chip-scale integration – a key aspect for any technical application of the scheme. Based on a successful demonstration of the TeraSlice concept, foundation of a start-up is envisaged as a realistic scenario for exploitation of the results.