Patent ID: 7333687

Claim:
An optical apparatus, the optical apparatus filtering a plurality of multiplexed channels having a first adjacent channel spacing, the plurality of multiplexed channels including at least a first subplurality of multiplexed channels and a second subplurality of multiplexed channels, the first subplurality of multiplexed channels having a second adjacent channel spacing greater than the first adjacent channel spacing, the second subplurality of multiplexed channels having a third adjacent channel spacing greater than the first adjacent channel spacing, the optical apparatus comprising: a first set of one or more thin film filters, each thin film filter of the first set of one or more thin film filters having no less than a first transmitted dispersion magnitude and having no more than a first reflected dispersion magnitude, wherein the first set of one or more thin film filters split the first subplurality of multiplexed channels from the plurality of multiplexed channels; and a second set of one or more thin film filters, each thin film filter of the second set of one or more thin film filters having no more than a second transmitted dispersion magnitude and having no less than a second reflected dispersion magnitude, wherein the second set of one or more thin film filters split the second subplurality of multiplexed channels from the plurality of multiplexed channels, wherein the first transmitted dispersion magnitude exceeds the second transmitted dispersion magnitude.