An apparatus for determining the wavelength of light emitted by, for example, a laser, includes three photodiodes. One photodiode receives a proportion of the light redirected from the main optical path by a beam splitter. A second photodiode receives a proportion of the light redirected from the main optical path by the beam splitter and passing through a broadband filter. A third photodiode receives light that has been caused to interfere by an interferometric device. The ratio of the light intensities at the first and second photodiodes provide a coarse determination of wavelength, when compared to a lookup table, and the ratio of the light intensities at the first and third photodiodes provide a more exact determination of the wavelength.