WDM system integration of micromachined tunable two-chip Fabry-Perot filters

Due to their large tuning range, simple tuning mechanism and high finesse, micromachined tunable two-chip Fabry-Perot filters are very promising candidates for Wavelength Division Multiplex (WDM) systems. This paper focusses on the characterization of system integrated filters in terms of Bit Error Rate (BER) measurements. A 2.5 GBit/s data stream could be selected without being affected by crosstalk from the 100 GHz spaced neighbouring channels. If the signal suffers from chirp, the filter can improve the extinction ratio. Most important for filter operation under realistic conditions is their rotational resonator symmetry design. Otherwise the filter cannot handle fast polarization changes.