Patent ID: 8606119

Claim:
An optical channel monitor, comprising: a tunable filter configured to receive an optical signal having a plurality of channels spaced at a nominal channel spacing, the tunable filter having a −20 decibel bandwidth; a deinterleaver having an input with an input channel spacing F i , an even output, and an odd output, the input being connected to an output of the tunable filter, wherein the nominal channel spacing is between about one and two times the input channel spacing F i , and wherein the tunable filter −20 decibel bandwidth is between about two and four times the input channel spacing F i ; a first optical receiver coupled to the even output; a second optical receiver coupled to the odd output; a control module coupled to the tunable filter and configured to tune the tunable filter to a desired center frequency; a first post amplifier coupled to an output of the first optical receiver; a first analog-to-digital converter coupled to an output of the first post amplifier and coupled to the control module; a second post amplifier coupled to an output of the second optical receiver; and a second analog-to-digital converter coupled to an output of the second post amplifier and coupled to the control module.