The DWDM Assistant takes the pain and tedium out of the process for the design of multiple-cavity filters, particularly those intended for Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing. The DWDM Assistant takes a desired specification and produces a set of candidate designs using the method of symmetrical periods. The properties of the candidate designs are displayed and sorted in a number of user-specified ways, such as total layer thickness, deposition time, and ripple performance.

The symmetrical period technique used by the DWDM Assistant is enhanced by a ripple optimization algorithm that adds structures composed only of quarterwave layers to reduce the ripple in the passband. In general, a number of designs will satisfy the given requirements for a filter, but the DWDM Assistant makes it possible to examine thoroughly and rank candidate designs according to critical criteria.