Interferometric modulators linearized to arbitrary order

When designing optical modulators it is generally desired to obtain a linear relationship between the applied voltage V and the output light intensity I, or output field E. Using the Mach-Zehnder interferometer as a basic component, designs have been found which are free from harmonic distortion up to the fifth order. We introduce a novel interferometric architecture which in principle allows us to suppress the generation of harmonics to any arbitrary order. We will prove this theoretically for either intensity, or field amplitude modulation, and we will provide explicit procedures for calculating the optical parameters.