title: Nanoparticle-free tissue-mimicking phantoms with intrinsic scattering.
abstract: We present an alternative to the conventional approach, phantoms without scattering nanoparticles, where scattering is achieved by the material itself: spherical cavities trapped in a silicone matrix. We describe the properties and fabrication of novel optical phantoms based on a silicone elastomer polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) and glycerol mixture. Optical properties (absorption coefficient µa , reduced scattering coefficient µs' , and anisotropy factor g) of the fabricated phantoms were retrieved from spectrophotometric measurements (in the 400-1100 nm wavelength range) using the inverse adding-doubling method. The internal structure of the phantoms was studied under a scanning electron microscope, and the chemical composition was assessed by Raman spectroscopy. Composition of the phantom material is reported along with the full characterization of the produced phantoms and ways to control their parameters.
authors.affiliation: Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Gabriela Narutowicza Str. 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Maciej S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Wróbel
authors.affiliation: University of Oulu, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, P.O. Box 4500, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Alexey P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Popov
authors.affiliation: University of Oulu, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, P.O. Box 4500, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland.
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Bykov
authors.affiliation: University of Oulu, Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering, Optoelectronics and Measurement Techniques Laboratory, P.O. Box 4500, FI-90014 Oulu, Finland; Saratov National Research State University, Research-Education Institute of Optics and Biophotonics, 410012 Saratov, Russia; Institute of Precision Mechanics and Control of Russian Academy of Sciences, 410028 Saratov, Russia; National Research Tomsk State University, Laboratory of Biophotonics, 634050 Tomsk, Russia.
authors.forename: Valery V
authors.initials: VV
authors.lastname: Tuchin
authors.affiliation: Gdańsk University of Technology, Faculty of Electronics, Telecommunications and Informatics, Department of Metrology and Optoelectronics, Gabriela Narutowicza Str. 11/12, 80-233 Gdańsk, Poland.
authors.forename: Małgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jędrzejewska-Szczerska
keywords: (160.0160) Materials; (160.4670) Optical materials; (160.4760) Optical properties; (170.0170) Medical optics and biotechnology; (170.3660) Light propagation in tissues; (170.7050) Turbid media