Wavelength tunable, narrowbandwidth wvelength filters in compound semiconductor have been modeled, fabricated, and characterized. In order to obtain a narrow bandpass characteristics at 1.55.$mu$m, a highly asymmertrical directional coupler structure composed of a strongly guided ridge waveguide and a weakly guided strip-loaded waveguide was used. The optimized filter structure modeling has been obtained by using the spectral index method, effective index method, and the coupled mode theory. Operation at a center wavelength a 1.537.mu.m with a bandwidth of 1.8nm and transfer efficiency of 50-70% is experimentally achieved. For the purpose of center wavelength tuning, the carrier injection in p-n diode structure has been theoretically investigated. It has been found that the tuning range of nanometer can be easily obtained by moderate amount carrier injection. We also found that the bandwidth becomes broad as the center wavelength tuning increases.