In search of a linear electrooptic amplitude modulator

Abstract
An electrooptic modulator which offers high linearity and low intermodulation distortion (IMD) is proposed. The modulation characteristics, harmonic and intermodulation distortions, are calculated. In the two-tone test with an optical modulation depth of 16% for each channel, the third-order IMD is expected to be as low as -95 dB. Such a linearized electrooptic modulator used in conjunction with diode-pumped solid-state lasers can be expected to outperform directly modulated injection lasers for CATV transmission systems.