The characteristics of active optical filters based on distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) laser diodes are described. The authors present a theoretical model for the small and large signal filter response which can be used to optimize the filter design and operating point. The large signal filter response is dominated by a variety of nonlinear effects, including a wavelength domain bistability. The authors describe a series of experiments in which the predicted filter characteristics are demonstrated. The authors present detailed measurements of the filter transfer function in both transmission and reflection modes under low and high power injection. For the small signal measurements a powerful technique which uses the swept frequency concept is presented. For the large signal regime, measurements of both frequency pulling and wavelength domain bistability are presented. >