Patent ID: 7058263

Claim:
An optical transport network comprising: a monolithic transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) InP-based chip comprising: an array of optical waveguides formed in the chip that are counted as inputs to an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG); each of the optical waveguides including, in integrated form, a semiconductor laser source and an electro-optic modulator providing a modulated channel signal; each of the laser sources having a different operational wavelength and together forming an operational wavelength grid approximating a standardized wavelength grid; the AWG having a wavelength grid with a passband substantially matching the standardized wavelength grid of the laser sources and functioning as a multiplexer of modulated channel signals received at its as input and providing a multiplexed channel signal at its output for off-chip optical coupling to an optical link; a monolithic receiver photonic integrated circuit (RxPIC) InP-based chip comprising: an input to receive the multiplexed channel signal from the optical link and provide the same to an input of an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) integrated on the chip; the AWG having a wavelength grid with a passband substantially matching the standardized wavelength grid of the laser sources and functioning as a demultiplexer of the multiplexed channel signal received at its input; the AWG having a plurality of optical waveguides at its output to respectively receive a demultiplexed channel signal at a respective output; each of the AWG output waveguides having an integrated photodetector for detecting the demultiplexed channel signal and produce a corresponding electrical signal; and a controller at the TxPIC to monitor and tune the operational wavelengths of the laser sources to optimize the operational wavelength grid of the laser sources to the standardized wavelength grid and, further, to monitor and shift the wavelength grid of the TxPIC AWG to substantially match the operational wavelength grid of the laser sources.