Reflectance Study of Milk in the UV-Visible Range

Abstract

Optical properties of milk were studied with the use of a recently developed reflectometer. The purpose of the study was, first, to test the applicability of the reflectometer in the estimation of real refractive index and scattering in turbid liquids and, second, to investigate the spectral properties of one particular turbid liquid, namely, milk. An expression for the reflectance of milk was constructed which takes into account the light scattering occurring in milk. With the application of a minimizing procedure to the reflectance data, it was possible to simultaneously obtain both the real refractive index and a scattering parameter for milk. The scattering parameter was observed to be linearly dependent on the milk fat concentration.