High speed optical transmitter producing modulated light signals

An optical system, comprising:

• a transmitter having waveguides defined in a layer of light-transmitting medium positioned on a base, the waveguide being immobilized relative to the base along the length of the waveguide;
• a portion of the waveguides being transition waveguides that each guides a different transition light signal;
• modulators positioned on the base,
• each modulator including a modulator waveguide that receives one of the transition light signals and guides the received transition light signal through the modulator,
• drive electronics in electrical communication with the modulators and configured to apply electrical energy to each of the modulators such that an electrical field is generated within the modulator waveguide, each of the electrical fields being generated so as to modulate one of the transition light signals into a modulated signal,
• a drive path length being a length of an electrical path from a contact pad on the drive electronics to a location where the electrical field is formed in one of the modulator waveguides, the drive path lengths for each of the modulators being less than 1.0 mm.