The desirable effects of an optical phase conjugator are accompanied by a frequency shift with reversal of the frequency order of channels in a multichannel optical communication system. Such effects are rectifiable by employing a sequence involving demultiplexing the multichannel signal, operating on the individual, demultiplexed channel with a corresponding optical phase conjugator or frequency shifter followed by multiplexing the signal. This sequence is combined with a complementary operation--optical phase conjugator to complement a frequency shifting sequence or frequency shifting to complement an optical phase conjugating sequence.