Generalized Integrating-Sphere Theory

David G. Goebel
A general equation is developed for the efficiency of an integrating sphere with a nonuniform coating. The only assumptions are that the interior is a perfect sphere and that all areas reflect perfectly diffusely. Three special cases of the general equation are examined for the basic applications of integrating spheres as mixing mechanisms in hemispherical reflectance measurements and in absolute reflectance techniques.

Introduction A sphere that is not uniform in the reflectance of its coating can be represented by a sphere with a number of areas of varying reflectance. The number and size of these areas can be chosen to approximate any nonuniform coating. If J is the intensity (flux-per-unit solid angle) of the reflected flux from an element da, the resulting irradiance H on any element dA of the sphere wall is H- J cosa/r2 (see Fig. 1), where J is the intensity in the given direction. Since r = 2R cosO, and = a for a sphere, H = J cos9/4R2 cos20, where R is the radius of the sphere. If the reflecting element da has a perfectly diffuse surface, J = Jo cosO, where Jo is the intensity in the perpendicular direction. Then the irradiance on any element of the sphere wall is
H = Jo cos'0/4R1 cos'o = J0 /4R2.

Two useful approximate forms when r<<R are

f

r/r' + DI, (D = 2R)

and
f r2/92.

The last approximate form is the familiar relation obtained if the area of a flat disk xr2is used for a instead of the spherical area. The error introduced by this approximation can be estimated by expanding Eq. (2) in a power series in 1, where 1 = r2/D2:
f =
'/2[l

(1

-41)'/]
/(41)3
..

= /211
= 1/2[21
=

[I -1/:(41) '/(41)2 -

212 + 413

+ 12 + 213 + . . .

Thus, the irradiance is constant, and the total flux reflected by the perfectly diffusing element da is simply
P = 4rRIH

If we approximatef by I to within a decimal error e,

f
-

Also, the fraction f of the total reflected flux that is incident on an area a of the sphere wall is simply equal
to a divided by 4 7rR, thus,
f = a/47rR'.

= 7rJo.

1= j

12 + 213 +

or
ez 1 = r/D2 r2 eD'

(1)

If a is a circular cap in the sphere wall with radius r, a equals 27rRh (see Fig. 2), where h = R -(R2 _r'2.2) Therefore, for a circular cap f = 2 7rR [R- (r2 - R12)/21/ 47rR1 or
f
=

or
dI - 2eD2, where d = 2r,

(/2){1

[-

(rR)1l}

(2)

(see Table I). Two other convenient forms forf which are equivalent to Eq. (2) for a circular cap are f = /,(1 - cos2O) andf= sin'2.
The author is with the Colorimetry and Spectrophotometry Section, National Bureau of Standards, Washington, D.C. 20234. Received 11 July 1966.

then
d -/2eD. V

Use of the approximate form for f results in an error greater than 1%, if the diameter of a is more than 20% of the sphere diameter. For an error of less than 0.1% the maximum value for d is 0.06 D. For a 20-cm sphere the use of r2/D' for f yields a 1% error for d = 4.0 cm and a 0.1% error for d = 1.2 cm.
January 1967 / Vol. 6, No. 1 / APPLIED OPTICS 125

is the average reflectance of the sphere wall. flux

n

Of this

E fi,3p.P.
0

is incident on
dn rgA
n E" ai, 0

dA cos a rZ

and
(1

Fig. 1. Geometric relations i a sphere used for calculating the irradiance ol dA from da.

fi

PP~

is incident on Theory Consider a sphere with total area As equal to 7rD 2 which has n + areas a>, with pi the reflectance of the ith area. Openings are equivalent to areas with zero reflectance. The area of the sphere that is not covered by the n + areas has a reflectance pw. The ratio
of the area a, to the area of the sphere A, is called
f.
n 0

An amount
n

E PifiMwP Po 0
0

The average reflectance of the sphere wall is

n

is reflected by
n
E ail

Pifi + P

(1

i).

All surfaces are assumed to be perfectly diffuse reflectors. Flux PO is initially incident on the area a.
An amount pP

and
n \

flux in the sphere after the first reflection. flux fipoPo is incident on a1, and
n

reflected by a is the total unabsorbed

Of this is reflected by

Pwet 1

f- ) ,3pP 0~

T.fpPo A
-

n ai .
0

is incident on
-

- E

ai.

Therefore, the total unabsorbed flux in the sphere after the third reflection is [Pw

An amount paf tp0P is reflected by aj, i t

E fi + E Pifi]fi-opo'

E PifiPoX. is reflected by
it

which equals pu 2poPo. Similarly, the total unabsorbed flux in the sphere after the fourth reflection equals pT.poPo, etc. The total flux P, which is incident on ai summed over an infinite number of reflections equals

E
0

ai,

and PW( I -E is reflected by

n
A
-

fi) PP.

Ea.,
0

Therefore, the total unabsorbed flux in the sphere after the second reflection is pTopoPo, where
-

\z

PU =

E fj) + E fiPi
0o 0

Fig. 2.

Geometric relations used for calculating the area of a spherical cap.

126 APPLIED OPTICS / Vol. 6, No. 1 / January 1967

where a,,, the absorptance of the sphere coating, equals

1
-Pm.

When written in this approximate form, F, can be seen to be strongly dependent on the absorptance a~. For large values of pm, a small percentage change in pmo yields a large percentage change in a. More exactly, the percentage change in Fiis from Eq. (5),
.-

Arl i/Fs
_
C

Ap1/P'

+ Afi/fi - Aao/aw;

.01

~~~~~~~~~6-0O.00 since
5-I .

-0.1

1-

P=

then
AP
Uf

-aw';

therefore,
6

AFi/Fi
Fig.

1/a, X Ap./pw + Afi/f1

(6)

.02

3.Gaho

peeefcec

.c0

1.0

.96

.92

.88

.84

.80 p,

COATING REFLECTANCE,

Fig. 3. Graph of Eq. 4;

sphere efficiency vs coating reflectance.

This means that 0.5% change in the reflectance of the sphere coating yields a 5% change in the sphere efficiency for a coating reflectance of approximately 90%o. A sphere coating that is only slightly selective spectrally can cause the sphere efficiency to be strongly selective as discussed above in Case I (see Fig. 3). Case II. The second case is that of an integratingsphere reflectometer in which the incident flux irradiates one of two specimens at ports in the sphere wall:
Po PWyP1 P and p
-

= 0 forj 3 0, 1 (7)
-

Pi = fiPoP + f5 0 Pi
Pi = fpP(l fpoPo/1 +u -pjv.

P P,, + fw'PX 0
+ 2 + fW+

+ Affiw PoPo + ...

* -)

F, = fip, [1 -m(1

Ei)

pofo -

Pfx]

The fraction Fi of the initial flux P, that is incident on a1 is P 1/P,. This is called the sphere efficiency: Fi
= fiPlo/l
-

When an integrating-sphere reflectometer is operated in a double-beam or comparison mode, two specimens are placed at ports in the sphere wall and the change in the sphere efficiency is measured when first one and
Table I. f
1-1(d/D)2l'/2}

P.
2

Since
15w =

P. (1

fi

+ E fiPi,

0o
Fj
=

0
1 - E

d/D
E fiPi.

f 0.000000 0.0001563 0.0004342 0.0006254 0.0009775 0.001408 0.001739 0.002504 0.003922 0.005657
0.006993 0.008868

d/D 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60

5/8

f 0.05349 0.06699 0.08242 0.1000 0.1096 0.1200 0.1273 0.1429 0.1693 0.2000
0.2236

fPo

fi)

(3)

0.00 0.025
1/24

Equivalent relations have been derived by Jacques and Kuppenheiml using integral equation methods and by Hisdal2 1 using matrix relations. There are three cases to which the above equation is frequently applied. Case I. The first case is that of the simple integrating sphere with n holes in which the incident flux irradiates the sphere wall: p = p and p = 0 for 0 < j < n. The fraction of the incident flux that escapes out the ith hole is
n

0.05
1/16

0.075
'l/2

0.65
2/3

0.10
3/24

0.15 l/6
3/16

0.70 0.75 0.80

5/

0.20
I/24

0.01010
0.01097

0.25 0.30
5/16 1/3

0.01588 0.02303
0.02504 0.02860

0.85 0.90 0.95 1.00

0.2366 0.2821 0.3439 0.5000

Fi = fip,,/1 - P.(1 -

E f).
I
n

(4)

A simplification of Eq. (4), where E f is much less than one, is I

F,

0.35
31s

- pjif/a 0 for Pw Fd 1.0,

0.40 6/12

0.03163 0.03649 0.04174 0.04547

(5) January 1967 / Vol. 6, No. 1 / APPLIED OPTICS 127

then the other is directly irradiated. Since the average reflectance of the sphere is unchanged, the ratio of the two sphere efficiencies is directly equal to the ratio of the reflectances of the specimens. In the singlebeam or substitution mode, the change in the sphere efficiency is measured when one specimen is substituted for another in the sphere wall. Since the average reflectance of the sphere wall changes when the specimen is changed, the ratio of the sphere efficiencies is not exactly equal to the ratio of the specimen reflectances. The amount that the sphere efficiency is altered because of a change in the average reflectance of the wall can be quite large depending on the magnitude of the average reflectance (see Fig. 3). Case III. In the third case the sphere wvall is directly irradiated, and the areas of varying reflectance are diffusely irradiated:
Po = Pw

f, is the ratio for the removable cap. Using these two measurements, one can obtain the absolute reflectance of the sphere coating from the following equation:
P. = Q - Q'E(Q - Q')(1

fe - fin) + Q'f -' = -1 - f - fm + fQ/(Q

-

-Q)]

where Q = KF is the reading obtained with the cap on and Q' = KF' is the reading obtained with the cap off. Another method of obtaining absolute reflectance by using an auxiliary sphere with an integating sphere reflectometer has been described by the author in a previous paper.5

Conclusion
By using the equations derived above together with Table I and Fig. 3, the designer should be able to construct an integrating sphere to obtain a desired efficiency; or, alternatively, one can determine the efficiency of a sphere built for a specific application. The equations will yield a good approximation for sphere efficiency even if the sphere coating is not perfectly diffuse, provided that the reflectance is high (greater than -0.9), and provided that the first few specular reflections are confined to the sphere. The reason for this is that even for a slightly specular coating, after a few reflections in the sphere, the irradiance will become uniform.

Fi = fip[ i-

Pw(

(8)

An important application of Eq. (8) is the removable cap method of determining absolute reflectance first used by Taylor in 1920.4 The sphere is constructed with an entrance port, a measurement port, and a removable cap with the same reflectance as the rest of the sphere wall. The sphere wall is directly irradiated by the entering flux. First, the fraction of the incident flux leaving the measurement port is measured with the cap on, and
F = fpw/l
-

pw.l

f -fj

The fraction of the incident flux measured with the cap removed is F'
=

References
1. J. A. Jacques and H. F. Kuppenheim, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 45,
460 (1955).

p/1

p(1 -

- f-el - f),

where is the area ratio defined above for the entrance port, .m is the ratio for the measurement port, and

2. 3. 4. 5.

B. J. Hisdal, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55, 1122 (1965). B. J. Hisdal, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 55, 1255 (1965). A. H. Taylor, Sci. Papers Bur. Std. S16, 421 (1920). D. G. Goebel, J. Opt. Soc. Am. 56, 783 (1966).

3M Company of St. Paul is establishing an educational facility in the fields of high speed photography and optics-to be known as Optical Forum-at its Wollensak Optical Products plant at Rochester, N.Y., under the management of Fred M. Emens.

128 APPLIED OPTICS / Vol. 6, No. 1 / January 1967