A system comprising: a laser generating given modes; an optical input bus; a common optical output bus; coupling optics coupling the laser to the optical input bus; a plurality of ring resonator filters: arranged in series along the optical input bus in a one-to-one relationship with a sub-band of the given modes, one ring resonator filter for each mode in the sub-band of the given modes; optically coupled to both the optical input bus and the common optical output bus; each configured to couple one respective mode from the sub-band to the common optical output bus, a respective free spectral range of each of the plurality of ring resonator filters being greater than a spectral bandwidth of modes on the optical input bus; a plurality of ring resonator modulators: arranged in series along the common optical output bus in a one-to-one relationship with the plurality of ring resonator filters, one ring resonator modulator for each mode in the sub-band of the given modes; and each configured to modulate one given respective mode from the sub-band on the common optical output bus, so that all modes in the sub-band are modulated on the common optical output bus, a respective FSR of each of the plurality of ring resonator modulators being greater than a respective spectral bandwidth of the modes of the sub-band conveyed to the optical output bus by the plurality of ring resonator filters; and, an output optical device connected to the common optical output bus, the optical output device 115 configured to convey an optical output signal to one or more of an optical component, an optical fiber, an SOA (Semiconductor Optical Amplifier), a PIC (photonic integrated circuit), and an optical filter, the optical output signal comprising modulated modes of the sub-band of the given modes. a laser generating given modes; an optical input bus; a common optical output bus; coupling optics coupling the laser to the optical input bus; a plurality of ring resonator filters: arranged in series along the optical input bus in a one-to-one relationship with a sub-band of the given modes, one ring resonator filter for each mode in the sub-band of the given modes; optically coupled to both the optical input bus and the common optical output bus; each configured to couple one respective mode from the sub-band to the common optical output bus, a respective free spectral range of each of the plurality of ring resonator filters being greater than a spectral bandwidth of modes on the optical input bus; a plurality of ring resonator modulators: arranged in series along the common optical output bus in a one-to-one relationship with the plurality of ring resonator filters, one ring resonator modulator for each mode in the sub-band of the given modes; and each configured to modulate one given respective mode from the sub-band on the common optical output bus, so that all modes in the sub-band are modulated on the common optical output bus, a respective FSR of each of the plurality of ring resonator modulators being greater than a respective spectral bandwidth of the modes of the sub-band conveyed to the optical output bus by the plurality of ring resonator filters; and, an output optical device connected to the common optical output bus, the optical output device 115 configured to convey an optical output signal to one or more of an optical component, an optical fiber, an SOA (Semiconductor Optical Amplifier), a PIC (photonic integrated circuit), and an optical filter, the optical output signal comprising modulated modes of the sub-band of the given modes.