Patent ID: 7158699

Claim:
A method of optimizing optical channel signal demultiplexing in a monolithic receiver photonic integrated circuit (RxPIC) chip, comprising the steps of: providing an optical demultiplexer that has a predetermined transmission characteristic and has a predetermined number, N, of demultiplexed signal channel outputs for a demultiplexed WDM signal comprising channel signals λ 1 to λ N ; providing a plurality of waveguide inputs to the demultiplexer where each input is separated from one another along at an input face of the demultiplexer where the demultiplexed channel signals 1 1 to λ N appear at the same N demultiplexed signal channel outputs regardless of the selected waveguide input for the WDM signal; providing a WDM signal comprising N multiplexed channel signals on each of the waveguide inputs; determining which input waveguide provides the best performance in approximating a center wavelength of the WDM signal with a center wavelength of the AWG as viewed from the predetermined number of N outputs; and selecting the best performing waveguide input to be the exclusive input for the RxPIC.