Silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators have been shown to be relatively insensitive to displacement damage beyond a 1-MeV-equivalent neutron fluence of 3 · 1016 n/cm2. Recent investigations on optimized device designs have also led to a high resistance against total ionizing dose levels of above 1 MGy. Such devices could potentially replace electrical and/or optical links close to the particle interaction points in future high energy physics experiments. Since they require an external continuous-wave light source, radiation-hard optical links based on silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators need to have a different system design when compared to existing directly modulated laser-based optical links. 10 Gb/s eye diagrams of irradiated Mach-Zehnder modulators were mea-sured. The outcomes demonstrate the suitability for using these components in harsh radiation environments. A proposal for the implementation of silicon Mach-Zehnder modulators in CERN’s particle detectors was developed and a model to calculate the system performance is presented. The optical power budget and the electrical power dissipation of the prop