Mid-infrared supercontinuum generation and its application on all-optical quantization with different input pulses

Supercontinuum generation (SCG) and its application on all-optical quantization of all-optical analog-to-digital conversions (AOADCs) at the mid-infrared region in an AlGaAs strip waveguide are investigated numerically. The simulation results show that when the parabolic pulse is input, not only broader and higher-coherence SCG is obtained and a higher effective number of bits (ENOB) can be achieved, compared with the input pulse with hyperbolic-secant and Gaussian shaping. A four-bit quantization resolution is achieved along with a signal-to-noise ratio of 24.02 dB and an ENOB of 3.99 bit, and the required input peak power is 760 mW.