Measuring milk fat content by random laser emission

Abstract

The luminescence spectra of milk containing rhodamine 6G are shown to exhibit typical signatures of random lasing when excited with 532 nm laser pulses. Experiments carried out on whole and skim forms of two commercial brands of UHT milk, with fat volume concentrations ranging from 0 to 4%, presented lasing threshold values dependent on the fat concentration, suggesting that a random laser technique can be developed to monitor such important parameter.