Patent ID: 8326153

Claim:
A method of tuning a tunable dispersion compensator (TDC) from a present TDC setpoint to a new TDC setpoint, the TDC having a plurality of optical group delay tuning elements, comprising: retrieving target trajectories that have been defined with respect to time for tuning coefficients of the optical group delay tuning elements, wherein each optical group delay tuning element is associated with a different one of the target trajectories; and controlling tuning coefficients of the optical group delay tuning elements such that tuning coefficients of each of the optical group delay tuning elements track the target trajectory associated therewith in time until the new TDC is reached, wherein the new TDC setpoint is reached from the present TDC setpoint after a number of TDC setpoints that are between the present TDC setpoint and the new TDC set point are reached.