Editor's Picks

Optical Properties: Measurements and Measuring Techniques

The editors of Applied Optics have selected articles from a variety of topic areas that reflect the progression of each area over Applied Optics' history.

These collections and the articles within them are not meant to be comprehensive but authoritative, showing that significant contributions were made and continue to be made in these areas.

For this collection, we are focusing on measuring optical properties and have provided a selection of 20 articles for your reading pleasure.

Homogeneous media
Optical Constants of Water in the 200-nm to 200-µm Wavelength Region
  • George M. Hale and Marvin R. Querry
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 12 Issue 3, pp.555-563 (1973)
Measurement of thin film parameters with a prism coupler
  • R. Ulrich and R. Torge
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 12, Issue 12, pp. 2901- (1973)
High Precision Scanning Ellipsometer
  • D. E. Aspnes and A. A. Studna
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 14, Issue 1, pp. 220-228 (1975)
Optical properties of the metals Al, Co, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Ti, and W in the infrared and far infrared
  • M. A. Ordal, L. L. Long, R. J. Bell, S. E. Bell, R. R. Bell, R. W. Alexander, Jr., and C. A. Ward
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 22, Issue 7, pp. 1099-1119 (1983)
Optical constants of ice from the ultraviolet to the microwave
  • Stephen G. Warren
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 23, Issue 8, pp. 1206-1225 (1984)
Optical properties of fourteen metals in the infrared and far infrared: Al, Co, Cu, Au, Fe, Pb, Mo, Ni, Pd, Pt, Ag, Ti, V, and W.
  • M. A. Ordal, Robert J. Bell, R. W. Alexander, Jr, L. L. Long, and M. R. Querry
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 24, Issue 24, pp. 4493-4499 (1985)
Absorption and attenuation of visible and near-infrared light in water: dependence on temperature and salinity
  • W. Scott Pegau, Deric Gray, and J. Ronald V. Zaneveld
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 36 Issue 24, pp.6035-6046 (1997)
Absorption spectrum (380-700 nm) of pure water. II. Integrating cavity measurements
  • Robin M. Pope and Edward S. Fry
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 36, Issue 33, pp. 8710-8723 (1997)
Optical properties of metallic films for vertical-cavity optoelectronic devices
  • Aleksandar D. Rakić, Aleksandra B. Djurišić, Jovan M. Elazar, and Marian L. Majewski
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 37, Issue 22, pp. 5271-5283 (1998)
Inhomogeneous media

Optical properties of the clearest natural waters (200-800 nm)
  • Raymond C. Smith and Karen S. Baker
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 20 Issue 2, pp.177-184 (1981)
Scattering and absorption of turbid materials determined from reflection measurements. 1: Theory
  • R. A. J. Groenhuis, H. A. Ferwerda, and J. J. Ten Bosch
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 22 Issue 16, pp.2456-2462 (1983)
Time resolved reflectance and transmittance for the noninvasive measurement of tissue optical properties
  • Michael S. Patterson, B. Chance, and B. C. Wilson
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 28, Issue 12, pp. 2331-2336 (1989)
Light scattering in Intralipid-10% in the wavelength range of 400-1100 nm
  • Hugo J. van Staveren, Christian J. M. Moes, Jan van Marie, Scott A. Prahl, and Martin J. C. van Gemert
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 30, Issue 31, pp. 4507-4514 (1991)
Determining the optical properties of turbid media by using the adding-doubling method
  • Scott A. Prahl, Martin J. C. van Gemert, and Ashley J. Welch
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 32 Issue 4, pp.559-568 (1993)
Use of a laser beam with an oblique angle of incidence to measure the reduced scattering coefficient of a turbid medium
  • Lihong Wang and Steven L. Jacques
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 34 Issue 13, pp.2362-2366 (1995)
Spatially resolved absolute diffuse reflectance measurements for noninvasive determination of the optical scattering and absorption coefficients of biological tissue
  • Alwin Kienle, Lothar Lilge, Michael S. Patterson, Raimund Hibst, Rudolf Steiner, and Brian C. Wilson
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 35 Issue 13, pp.2304-2314 (1996)
Predictions and measurements of scattering and absorption over broad wavelength ranges in tissue phantoms
  • Judith R. Mourant, Tamika Fuselier, James Boyer, Tamara M. Johnson, and Irving J. Bigio
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 36 Issue 4, pp.949-957 (1997)
Broadband absorption spectroscopy in turbid media by combined frequency-domain and steady-state methods
  • Frédéric Bevilacqua, Andrew J. Berger, Albert E. Cerussi, Dorota Jakubowski, and Bruce J. Tromberg
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 39 Issue 34, pp.6498-6507 (2000)
Measurements of optical properties of high-density media
  • Giovanni Zaccanti, Samuele Del Bianco, and Fabrizio Martelli
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 42 Issue 19, pp.4023-4030 (2003)
Low-coherent backscattering spectroscopy for tissue characterization
  • Young L. Kim, Yang Liu, Ramesh K. Wali, Hemant K. Roy, and Vadim Backman
  • Applied Optics, Vol. 44 Issue 3, pp.366-377 (2005)