The invention relates to a battery comprising a battery housing and at least one battery cell and at least one fiber optic sensor which has at least one waveguide with a core and a material surrounding said core. At least one fiber Bragg grating is introduced in the core and is mechanically coupled to the battery housing and/or to the battery cell in order to detect a change in size of the battery housing and/or of the battery cell. At least a second fiber Bragg grating is introduced in the core and is mechanically decoupled from the battery housing and the battery cell. The invention further relates to a method for the open loop or closed loop control of the charging and/or discharging of a battery, measurement values being acquired by at least one fiber optic sensor.