Patent ID: 7136546

Claim:
A method of operating a monolithic photonic integrated circuit (PIC) formed as an integrated array on a single substrate, comprising the steps of: providing an integrated array of laser sources in the circuit, each designed for having an output at different targeted emission wavelength which together approximate a predetermined emission wavelength grid; providing a plurality of wavelength changing elements, one each in close proximity to a respective laser source; providing a wavelength selective combiner integrated on the single substrate that has a predetermined wavelength grid that has a plurality of inputs to receive the laser source outputs and combine them into a wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) signal for output from the chip; monitoring the emission wavelengths of the laser sources to determine their respective emission wavelengths; and adjusting the laser source emission wavelengths to be closer to their targeted emission wavelengths to either better approximate the predetermined emission wavelength grid or better approximate the wavelength selective combiner wavelength grid.