A electro-absorption optical modulator includes a multiple quantum well composed of a plurality of layers including a plurality of quantum well layers and a plurality of barrier layers that are alternately stacked, the plurality of quantum well layers and the plurality of barrier layers including an acceptor and a donor; a p-type semiconductor layer in contact with an uppermost layer of the plurality of layers; and an n-type semiconductor layer in contact with a lowermost layer of the plurality of layers, the multiple quantum well being 10% or more and 150% or less of the p-type semiconductor layer in a p-type carrier concentration, and in the multiple quantum well, an effective carrier concentration which corresponds to a difference between the p-type carrier concentration and an n-type carrier concentration is ±10% or less of the p-type carrier concentration of the multiple quantum well.