Patent ID: 7965911

Claim:
A method of variably adjusting the center wavelength and drop bandwidth of a 3 port tunable filter comprising: directing input wavelengths from an optical element having an actuator with at least one tilt axis through an optical beam transfer element and to a dispersive optical element to thereby disperse the input wavelengths laterally across an optical arrangement oriented to reflect input wavelengths into a first output port; selectively positioning, by tilt actuation of the optical element, the dispersed wavelengths over an optical beamsplitting region of the optical arrangement that splits the portion of the optical beam impinging on the beamsplitting region and directs the split portion of the beam to a second output port; adjusting the position of the input wavelengths along a first axis to position the center wavelength on the beamsplitting region; adjusting the position of the input wavelengths along a second axis perpendicular to the first axis to position the input wavelengths on a portion of the beamsplitting region that is wider or narrower depending on whether a wider or narrower bandwidth, respectively, is desired.