Abstract This paper proposes an all-optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) multiplexer based on sawtooth wave driving LiNbO 3 phase modulators by using serrodyne optical frequency translation. This multiplexer has high integration ability. The designing concept and implementation method have been discussed. A 16 × 10 Gb/s optical OFDM system is designed based on this multiplexer. Transmission characteristics, including tolerances of polarization mode dispersion (PMD) and nonlinear impairments have been studied numerically. Simulations show that the PMD tolerance is about 42 ps. The spectral efficiency reaches 1 bit/s/Hz with binary modulation format.