An optical device including (a) a substrate having an electro-optic
effect; (b) a modulating optical waveguide formed on a surface layer
portion of said substrate and forming an interference optical modulator
for modulating input light; (c) an output optical waveguide formed on
said surface layer portion of said substrate and connected to a
downstream side portion of said modulating optical waveguide; and (d) a
branching monitoring section for monitoring branched light of light
propagated along said output optical waveguide and emitted from an
outgoing end face of said substrate. The output waveguide has a reduced
width region in which the waveguide width is reduced.