A system and method for quantizing a photonic signal involves passing the
photonic signal through a photonic crystal. The photonic crystal has
localized defects for splitting the photonic signal into a plurality of
quantized photonic components and for directing the quantized photonic
components to a set of optical detectors. A digital conversion of the
photonic signal can occur by performing a threshold comparison of the
quantized components, either in the electrical domain through comparators
or in the optical domain through optical limiters.