Angular and spectral bandwidth considerations in brdf measurements of interference-and diffraction-based coatings

Abstract

The Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) of iridescent (or goniochromatic) surfaces may vary notably with both spectral and angular variables, and, therefore, finite spectral bandwidth and collection solid angles inherent to any measuring instrument introduce a deviation from the correct value. Experimental data of highly goniochromatic samples are used to analyse their impact on measurement uncertainty. The results indicate that it is advisable to standardize spectral and angular bandwidths because the systematic error is not negligible for typical measuring systems. The 95th percentile of the error distribution of the measurement of the BRDF due to these finite bandwidths, and also the 95th percentile of the calculated resulting color differences, are used as criteria to establish recommended values of spectral and angular bandwidths. The impact of the bandwidth is more critical in the measurement of the BRDF of diffraction-based than of interference-based coatings.