A fiber-optic transmitter comprises a transmitter optical port, an optical circulator, a semiconductor optical amplifier, and a two-port modulation-averaging structure. The optical circulator has at least three ports, a first one of the three circulator ports being optically coupled to the transmitter optical port. The semiconductor optical amplifier has an input optical port, an output optical port, and an electrical input port. The two-port modulation-averaging structure is optically coupled between the input optical port and a third one of the three circulator ports.