Thermal diffusivity study of cheese fats by thermal lens detection

In this paper we used thermal lens spectrometry to determine the thermal diffusivity of cheese fats. We have used equal concentrations of cheese fats from oaxaca, chihuahua, gouda, manchego and mozzarella cheeses at 42°C temperature. The two lasers mismatched mode experimental configuration was used with a He-Ne laser, as a probe beam and an Ar⁺ laser as the excitation one. The characteristic time constant of the transient thermal lens was obtained by fitting the theoretical expression to the experimental data in order to obtain the thermal diffusivity of the cheese fat samples. This measured thermal property may contribute to a better understanding of the cheese fats quality, which is very important in food industry.