Patent ID: 8620116

Claim:
An optical modulation apparatus, comprising: a Mach-Zehnder optical modulator having two light waveguides, two output light waveguides, and a join-and-branch portion located therebetween; a drive circuit configured to output a modulation signal to modulation electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides as a differential signal, the modulation signal modulating lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase adjustment circuit configured to control first phase control signals to be output to phase adjustment electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and adjust phases of lights propagated in the two light waveguides; a phase shift control circuit configured to switch second phase control signals to be output to phase shift electrodes provided respectively on the two light waveguides, and change phases of the lights propagated in the two light waveguides; and a signal polarity reversal circuit configured to reverse a polarity of the differential signal.