Patent ID: 7489838

Claim:
An optical circuit comprising: a plurality of modulated sources, each of the plurality of modulated sources producing a corresponding one of a plurality of optical signals having a respective one of a plurality of wavelengths; an optical multiplexer having a plurality of inputs and an output, each of the plurality of inputs of the optical multiplexer configured to received a corresponding one of the plurality of optical signals, such that the optical multiplexer combines the plurality of optical signals into an output signal provided at the output of the optical combiner; a plurality of first wavelength tuning elements, each of the plurality of first wavelength tuning elements coupled to a respective one of the plurality of modulated sources; a second wavelength tuning element coupled to the multiplexer; and a wavelength control system coupled to the plurality of first wavelength tuning elements, the second wavelength tuning element, and the output of the optical multiplexer, such that the wavelength control system adjusts either the respective wavelengths of the plurality of modulated sources to approximate a wavelength grid, or adjusts a passband response of the optical multiplexer to approximate the wavelength grid, or both.