High-Dynamic-Range Absorption Spectroscopy by Generating a Wide Path-Length Distribution with Scatterers

In absorption spectroscopy, it is challenging to detect absorption peaks with significant differences in their intensity in a single measurement. We enable high-dynamic-range measurements by dispersing scatterers within a sample to create a broad distribution of path lengths (PLs). The sample is placed within an integrating sphere (IS) to capture all scattered light of various PLs. To address the complexities of PLs inside the IS and the sample, we performed a ray-tracing simulation using the Monte Carlo (MC) method, which estimates the measured absorbance A and PL distribution from the sample’s absorption coefficient µa and scattering properties at each wavelength λ. This method was validated using dye solutions with two absorption peaks whose intensity ratio is 95:1, employing polystyrene microspheres (PSs) as scatterers. The results confirmed that both peak shapes were delineated in a single measurement without flattening the high absorption peak. Although the measured peak shapes A(λ) did not align with the actual peak shapes µa(λ), MC enabled the reproduction of µa(λ) from A(λ). Furthermore, the analysis of the PL distribution by MC shows that adding scatterers broadens the distribution and shifts it toward shorter PLs as absorption increases, effectively adjusting it to µa.