Patent ID: 8285147

Claim:
A system for generating an optical cable television (CATV) comb having a plurality of wavelength division multiplexed (WDM) optical signals, the system comprising: a first number of multi-channel quantum dot lasers for generating a plurality of narrow-band continuous wave (CW) lights, each CW light having a respective predetermined wavelength and optical power level; and a broadband optical modulator responsive to a second number of (CATV) signals for modulating the plurality of CW lights to generate the optical CATV comb, wherein: the wavelength of each CW light corresponds to a different CATV channel, the first number of multi-channel quantum dot lasers is more than one, the first number of multi-channel quantum dot lasers is less than the second number of CATV signals, and at least two of the modulated CW lights corresponding to different channels have different optical power levels.