Patent ID: 8290314

Claim:
An optical waveguide mode sensor comprising: a chip provided with a substrate formed from a transparent dielectric material or a transparent electrically-conductive material, a reflector film formed on the substrate, and an optical waveguide layer formed on the reflector film; a plurality of pores formed in the optical waveguide layer so as to penetrate the optical waveguide layer; a light-introducing mechanism that introduces light from the substrate side of the chip onto the reflector film; and a light-detecting mechanism that detects the light reflected on the reflector film; wherein a specimen under investigation is detected by sensing a change in an incidence angle or in an intensity of reflected light that occurs when the specimen is adsorbed or deposits on a surface of the optical waveguide layer, by using a range of incidence angles of the light in which the intensity of reflected light changes when a part or all of the incident light couples with the optical waveguide mode that propagates in the optical waveguide layer; and wherein the optical waveguide is a film formed from a material selected from a group consisting of a silicon oxide, a titanium oxide, an organic material, a glass, a polymer, or a transparent electrically-conductive material, and wherein the reflector film is a thin film of a semiconductor material.