Reflectance study of milk in the UV-visible range

Optical properties of milk were studied with the use of a recently develope d reflectometer. The purpose of the study was, first, to test the applicabi lity of the reflectometer in the estimation of real refractive index and sc attering in turbid liquids and, second, to investigate the spectral propert ies of one particular turbid liquid, namely, milk. An expression for the re flectance of milk was constructed which takes into account the light scatte ring occurring in milk. With the application of a minimizing procedure to t he reflectance data, it was possible to simultaneously obtain both the real refractive index and a scattering parameter for milk. The scattering param eter was observed to be linearly dependent on the milk fat concentration.