Patent ID: 8325347

Claim:
Integrated-optical sensor, comprising An optical waveguide ( 2 ) having at least a first incoupling region ( 3 ), wherein a sensing wave ( 14 ) is excited by a sensing beam ( 12 ), and a second incoupling region ( 5 ), wherein a reference wave ( 15 ) is excited by a reference beam ( 13 ), and an interference signal is created between the sensing wave ( 14 ) and the reference wave ( 15 ), at least one sensing area ( 4 ) located between, and in a direction of the waveguide's mode propagation in line with, the first ( 3 ) and the second ( 5 ) incoupling regions and passed through by the sensing wave ( 14 ), wherein a change of the propagation constant of the waveguide ( 2 ), and thus a phase shift of the sensing wave ( 14 ), occurs depending on the optical environment, at least one detector ( 22 ) for measuring of an interference signal between the sensing wave ( 14 ) and the reference wave ( 15 ), wherein at least a part of the sensing wave ( 14 ) passes through the second incoupling region ( 5 ) after the sensing area ( 4 ), and the second incoupling region is constructed such that the ratio of the amplitudes of the sensing wave ( 14 ) in front and behind the second incoupling region ( 5 ) is 20:1 at most, and wherein the interference signal is guided within the optical waveguide ( 2 ), and wherein the optical waveguide is a light conduit of solid dielectric material adjacent to another solid dielectric material of lower refractive index.