A system and method involve receiving, at a processor, a phase modulated signal such as an optical or electromagnetic signal, using one or more samples of an in-phase component I(t) and a quadrature component Q(t) of the received phase modulated signal to generate, at the processor, a processed signal using the equation [A−B×I(t)]×Q(t), where A and B are numerical parameters, and inputting the processed signal into a receiver operatively connected to the processor. The processed signal may be filtered prior to being input into the receiver. Parameters A and B may be selected to vary complexity and performance of the receiver while controlling distortion for different modulation indices.