Characterization of pasteurized milk in the near infrared range for construction of tissue-mimicking optical phantoms

Abstract

Optical phantoms have been indispensable tools for validating the performance of biomedical optical devices. Low-cost and readily available materials are gaining great interest for the construction of biomedical optical phantoms. The main objective of this work is to investigate the feasibility of using commercial pasteurized milk as a scattering component of optical phantoms. To that end, milk samples with varying concentrations were prepared. Transmittance and diffuse reflectance spectroscopy at 690 and 830 nm were measured for milk samples. Then, the optical properties of pasteurized milk were determined. The results demonstrate the suitability of using pasteurized milk as a potential scattering element for building tissue-simulating optical phantoms in the NIR range of wavelength. Low fat pasteurized milk samples outperformed full-fat milk samples resulting in lower uncertainty levels in estimating scattering coefficient at 690 and 830 nm. The effect of batch-to-batch variation on scattering coefficient evaluation is investigated and discussed. The preliminary findings of this work provide a base for the rapid preparation of scattering-dependent optical phantoms needed for the validation and calibration of biomedical optical instrumentation.