Patent ID: 7627201

Claim:
An optical sensor for sensing at least one chemical or biochemical substance or for studying the behavior of cells, comprising a broad band light source for producing an incident light field, a sensor chip which includes a waveguide grating structure on a substrate, the waveguide grating structure comprising an array of waveguide grating structure units or an array of sensor locations; the waveguide grating structure being at least partially covered by at least one chemosensitive or biochemosensitive substance or by cells; the waveguide grating structure comprising at least one waveguide and at least one grating, and the waveguide grating structure being capable of emitting at least one light field when the incident light field at least partially illuminates the waveguide grating structure to yield an emitted light field that propagates away from said waveguide; a grating or prism spaced apart from the waveguide grating structure and arranged in the emitted light field propagating away from said waveguide, so as to influence the emitted light field in a wavelength dependent manner, thereby yielding an influenced light field; and a detector device comprising an array of detectors arranged to detect at least portions of the influenced light field.