A system and method for correcting environmental phase drift between signal and reference branches of a photonic analog-digital converter (pADC) with passive remote sampler (PRS) sends a continuous-wave (CW) laser from a base unit through the PRS in a reverse optical path to measure the phase drift. The CW optical signal is converted to an electrical signal from which a phase-error signal indicative of the phase drift is filtered out and sent to a phase shifter. The pADC sends an optical pulse through the PRS in a forward optical path; the signal pulse is phase-modulated according to a received radio frequency (RF) signal of interest. The phase-modulated optical pulses (e.g., signal and reference) are received at the base unit and the phase drift corrected out of the optical pulses via the phase shifter. The corrected optical pulses are demodulated to provide a digital counterpart to the RF signal of interest.

The present disclosure relates to an optical digital-to-analog converter (DAC). The optical DAC includes a first waveguide path configured to receive a first optical signal and a second waveguide path configured to receive a second optical signal. A first phase shifter segment interfaces with the first and second waveguide paths. The first phase shifter segment is configured to selectively generate a first phase shift between the first optical signal and the second optical signal in response to a first digital input. A second phase shifter segment interfaces with the first and second waveguide paths. The second phase shifter segment is configured to selectively generate a second phase shift between the first optical signal and the second optical signal in response to a second digital input. The first digital input and the second digital input correspond to different bits of a digital signal.

A system and method for correcting environmental phase drift between signal and reference branches of a photonic analog-digital converter (pADC) with passive remote sampler (PRS) sends a continuous-wave (CW) laser from a base unit through the PRS in a reverse optical path to measure the phase drift. The CW optical signal is converted to an electrical signal from which a phase-error signal indicative of the phase drift is filtered out and sent to a phase shifter. The pADC sends an optical pulse through the PRS in a forward optical path; the signal pulse is phase-modulated according to a received radio frequency (RF) signal of interest. The phase-modulated optical pulses (e.g., signal and reference) are received at the base unit and the phase drift corrected out of the optical pulses via the phase shifter. The corrected optical pulses are demodulated to provide a digital counterpart to the RF signal of interest.