Comparison of Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Scales Over the Hemisphere

Published

June 17, 2026

Author(s)

Ellie Molloy, Heather Patrick, Tatjana Quast, Kai-Olaf Hauer

Abstract

Measurements of both hemispherical and directional diffuse reflectance are regularly used in a range of industries to aid in quantifying the appearance of different objects, with increasing demand for metrologically traceable measurements of these quantities. While there have been several comparisons of diffuse reflectance scales, there have been fewer comparisons of bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) scales between national metrology institutes, and BRDF comparisons have been restricted to a narrow range of measurement geometries. This paper expands upon previous work by comparing BRDF scales over the whole detection hemisphere with normal incidence and comparing diffuse reflectance values calculated by integrating these BRDF measurements with integrating sphere-based diffuse reflectance measurements. The results of this comparison demonstrate the current limits of agreement between BRDF measurements and highlight the discrepancy between goniospectrophotometric and integrating sphere-based realisations of diffuse reflectance.

Citation

Applied Optics

Volume

65

Issue

18

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.603369

Local Download

Keywords

reflectance, BRDF, goniospectrophotometry, spectrophotometry

Citation

Molloy, E. , Patrick, H. , Quast, T. and Hauer, K. (2026), Comparison of Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function Scales Over the Hemisphere, Applied Optics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.603369, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=960980 (Accessed July 30, 2026)

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