An optical coupler for measuring mean wavelength of a broadband optical
source is described. Sensitivity of the optical coupler to variations of
refractive index and coupler length is minimized. The sensitivity to the
variations of the refractive index is minimized by making a difference
between the group refractive indices of the symmetric and asymmetric
propagation modes approximately constant and independent of the
refractive index. The sensitivity to the variations of the coupler length
is minimized by selecting the coupler length that makes output powers
from two waveguides to the first order insensitive to its length. This
selection is possible for broadband optical sources.