A mounting arrangement for an optical component in a planar lightwave circuit (PLC) is provided. The mounting arrangement includes a substrate, an input optical fiber associated with the substrate, an output optical waveguide manufactured on the substrate, and an optical component mounted on the substrate to transmit optical radiation from the input optical fiber to the output optical waveguide. The mounting arrangement also includes a length of optical waveguide on the substrate, in the same planar layers of the output optical waveguide, interposed on the substrate so that the at least one optical component is interposed between the length of optical waveguide and the output optical waveguide. In another embodiment, the mounting arrangement includes a length of optical fiber associated to the substrate so that the at least one optical component is interposed between the input optical fiber and the length of optical fiber.