Light propagation in porous ceramics: porosity and optical property studies using tunable diode laser spectroscopy

By integrating gas in scattering media absorption spectroscopy and frequency domain photon migration a new method is developed for the study of optical porosity and optical properties of porous media, in our case ceramics. The optical porosity is defined as the ratio of the path length through the gas-filled pores and the physical path length through the whole medium. The effective refractive index of the porous ceramics is also retrieved based on the optical porosity, which is then used to evaluate the reduced scattering coefficients of the porous ceramics. The combined method provides a new way to study light propagation in porous media. A modified Looyenga model is proposed to study the relationship between the physical porosity and the effective refractive index of the porous medium, which also connects the optical and physical porosities, and provides the possibility to use the present method for porosimetry analysis.