Patent ID: 8660440

Claim:
A method for configuring a component of an optical receiver by adjusting a characteristic of the optical receiver, the method comprising: determining an amount of optical filtering applied to an optical signal received at the receiver, the amount of optical filtering representing a change of an optical bandwidth during a transmission of the optical signal; determining a value for the characteristic of the receiver based on the determined amount of optical filtering, determining the value comprising: observing a characteristic of a detector associated with the receiver, the characteristic of the detector representing at least one of an average photocurrent of a constructive port of the detector; an average photocurrent of a destructive port of the detector; a sum of the average photocurrents of the constructive and destructive ports of the detector; and a ratio of the average photocurrents of the constructive and destructive ports of the detector; and maximizing or minimizing the observed characteristic of the detector; and adjusting, by a controller connected to the receiver, the characteristic of the receiver based on the determined value for the characteristic of the receiver.