Patent ID: 8340484

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: a periodic group-delay device (PGDD) having an adapted arrayed waveguide grating (AAWG) device comprising: N optical input ports, N being a positive integer number greater than one, each input port being configured to include at least one wavelength-division-multiplexing (WDM) channel, at least one of the N input ports being configured to include two or more WDM channels; N corresponding optical output ports, each output port being configured to include one or more WDM channels; a first slab waveguide region (FSWR) coupled to the N optical input ports; a second slab waveguide region (SSWR) coupled to the N optical output ports; a first optical grating coupled to the FSWR; a second optical grating coupled to the SSWR; and a third slab waveguide region (TSWR) coupled to at least one of the first and second optical gratings, wherein the TSWR is configured to provide a configurable amount of dispersion to the N optical output ports; wherein a free spectral range of at least one of the first and second optical gratings is substantially equal to a frequency spacing between the WDM channels; and wherein the FSWR and the SSWR are configured for processing signals from each of the N optical input ports independently of and concurrently with each other and routing the signals from each of the N optical input ports through different output ports.