Lightwave modulation techniques for advanced modulation formats

Arbitrary waveform can be synthesized by two orthogonal components: in-phase and quadrature components. Thus, if we can manipulate the two components independently, various complicated modulation can be achieved. This technique is called vector modulation, which is commonly used in wireless radio communication systems where the carrier frequency is lower than 100GHz. On the other hand, in lightwave transmission systems, the carrier frequency is higher than 100THz, and the stability of the signal sources would be much poorer than in radio systems, so that the simplest modulation format (on-off-keying) was often used in commercial systems. However, recently, various modulation techniques such as quadrature amplitude modulation, etc., have been demonstrated by using precise and rapid lightwave control. In this report, we review recent progress in optical vector modulation technologies which can generate highspeed and complicated optical signals. Integrated optical modulators can synthesize multi-level signals in photonic circuits.