Structures and methods of generating 8-QAM signals through the effect of a cascaded I/Q modulator and Mach-Zhender modulator. The 8-QAM signals are generated by applying one binary sequence to the dual-drive Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) and two binary sequences to the I/Q modulator. Operationally, the I/Q modulator generates QPSK constellation(s), while the dual drive MZM either maintains the QPSK constellation at an out ring, or attenuates its amplitude to the inner ring and rotates its phase by π/4 phase depending on the binary data it was driven by.