Abstract: A predistortion technique for adding a controlled amount of distortion to a radio-frequency (rf) drive signal of a laser in a lightwave transmitter. The magnitude of the added distortion approximates the distortion inherently produced by the laser. Additionally, the phase of the added distortion is substantially 180 degrees different from the distortion produced by the laser. Hence, the added distortion effectively cancels the distortion produced by the laser. The lightwave transmitter comprises a signal conditioner, a predistorter, a high-power rf amplifier circuit and a laser. The signal conditioner processes rf signals received from an rf input circuit. The processed rf signals are passed to the predistorter, which splits the rf signals into two portions. One of the split portions, which includes a major amount of the rf signal, passes through a delay circuit to an input of the combiner. The other split portion passes to diode circuits that selectively generate second- and third-order distortion products.