Patent ID: 6943931

Claim:
An apparatus for linearly modulating a light signal comprising: a substrate of material having an electro-optic effect; a Mach-Zehnder interferometer with multiple arms comprising of an optical power separating means having at least one input port and multiple output ports, for receiving and dividing an incoming light signal injected into the input port; an optical power combining means having multiple input ports and at least one output port, for receiving and combining input light signals, where the final combined output signal emerges at the said output port; a plurality of phase modulators and ring resonator/modulators capable of modulating the phase of the light input signal passing therethrough, with each said modulators having an input port and output port, and associated electrode means for applying the modulating electrical voltages thereto; where at least one pair of the said phase modulator and the said ring resonator/modulator are coupled to at least one arm of the interferometer; a bias controller means for controlling the arm length differences between the different arms of the interferometer, comprising of direct current bias electrode means in each arms for receiving direct current bias voltages in order to set the levels at predetermined values; an electrical drive means having at least an one input electrical signal source whose electrical power is split into multiple parts by at least an electrical power splitting means such that the modulating electrical voltages are adapted and applied to the corresponding electrode means of the said plurality of modulators and interferometer arms.