Sub-Nyquist optical pulse sampling for photonic blind source separation

We propose and experimentally demonstrate an optical pulse sampling method for photonic blind source separation. The photonic system processes and separates wideband signals based on the statistical information of the mixed signals, and thus the sampling frequency can be orders of magnitude lower than the bandwidth of the signals. The ultra-fast optical pulses collect samples of the signals at very low sampling rates, and each sample is short enough to maintain the statistical properties of the signals. The low sampling frequency reduces the workloads of the analog to digital conversion and digital signal processing systems. In the meantime, the short pulse sampling maintains the accuracy of the sampled signals, so the statistical properties of the under-sampled signals are the same as the statistical properties of the original signals. The linear power range measurement shows that the sampling system with ultra-narrow optical pulse achieves a 30dB power dynamic range. (C) 2022 Optical Society of America under the terms of the OSA Open Access Publishing Agreement