Patent ID: 7576867

Claim:
A system for monitoring the wavelength of a light source, the system comprising a light directing section, an optical vector generator, and one or more position sensitive detectors, wherein: the light directing section is configured to direct at least a portion of light generated by a light source toward the optical vector generator as variable wavelength input light; the optical vector generator comprises a grating coupled waveguide positioned in the optical path of the variable wavelength input light; the grating coupled waveguide is configured to exhibit a reflective or transmissive optical resonance effect in response to the variable wavelength input light; the optical resonance effect comprises a wavelength-dependent output vector that is generated from a localized output vector area of the grating coupled waveguide in response to variable wavelength input light; the position of the localized output vector area along a dimension of the grating coupled waveguide varies with the wavelength of the variable wavelength input light; and the position sensitive detector is positioned in the optical path of the wavelength-dependent output vector and is configured to facilitate generation of a signal indicative of the position of the localized output vector area along the dimension of the grating coupled waveguide.