Double-integrating-sphere system at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in support of measurement standards for the determination of optical properties of tissue-mimicking phantoms

Published

October 27, 2015

Author(s)

Paul Lemaillet, Jeeseong C. Hwang, David W. Allen

Abstract

There is a need for a common reference point that will allow for the comparison of the optical properties of tissue mimicking phantoms. This paper provides a brief review of the methods that have been used to measure tissue mimicking phantoms. The review provides a contextual backdrop to our approach. Here,wealso report on the establishment of a standardized double integrating sphere- based platform to measure absorption and reduced scattering coefficients of tissue-mimicking biomedical phantoms. The platform implements a user-friendly graphical user interface in which variations of experimental configurations and model-based analysis are implemented to compute the coefficients based on amodified inverse adding-doubling algorithm allowing a complete uncertainty evaluation. Repeatability and validation of the measurement results on solid phantoms are demonstrated under the variation of sample configurations, polarization angles of the incident light, and a comparison with the manufacturer's results. We envision that our measurement platform with further in-depth analysis of the associated uncertainties will enable NIST-traceable calibration and validation of biomedical devices involving measurements of tissue optical properties.

Citation

Journal of Biomedical Optics

Volume

20

Issue

12

Pub Type

Journals

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DOI Link

Keywords

tissue optical property, biomedical optics standard, integrating sphere, tissue-mimicking phantom, tissue optical scattering

Citation

Lemaillet, P. , Hwang, J. and Allen, D. (2015), Double-integrating-sphere system at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in support of measurement standards for the determination of optical properties of tissue-mimicking phantoms, Journal of Biomedical Optics, [online], https://doi.org/10.1117/1.JBO.20.12.121310 (Accessed October 20, 2025)