Patent ID: 6970654

Claim:
An apparatus for optically generating signals, the apparatus comprising: (a) a mode-locked semiconductor laser that generates mode-locked optical radiation with emitted wavelengths separated by approximately 10 GHz to approximately 300 GHz; (b) an optical demultiplexer with a demultiplexer input, a first demultiplexer output, and a second demultiplexer output, the demultiplexer input being coupled to said mode-locked semiconductor laser, wherein said optical demultiplexer serves as a wavelength separator capable of selecting a first wavelength for said first demultiplexer output and a second wavelength for said second demultiplexer output; (c) an optical modulator having a modulator input and a modulator output, the modulator input being coupled to the first demultiplexer output; and (d) an optical multiplexer having a first multiplexer input, a second multiplexer input, and a multiplexer output, the first multiplexer input being coupled to the modulator output, the second multiplexer input being directly coupled to said second demultiplexer output.