Investigation of absorption and scattering characteristics of kiwifruit tissue using a single integrating sphere system

For a quantitative understanding of light interaction with fruit tissue, it is critical to obtain two fundamental parameters: the absorption coefficient and the scattering coefficient of the tissue. This study was to investigate the optical properties of kiwifruit tissue at the wavelength of 632.8 nm. The total reflectance and total transmittance of kiwifruit tissue from three parts (including the flesh part, the seed part, and the seed-base part) were measured using a single integrating sphere system. Based on the measured spectral signals, the absorption coefficient μa and the reduced scattering coefficient μs′ of kiwifruit tissue were calculated using the inverse adding-doubling (IAD) method. Phantoms made from Intralipid 20% and India ink as well as a Biomimic solid phantom were used for system validation. The mean values of μa and μs′ of different parts of the kiwifruit were 0.031–0.308 mm−1 and 0.120–0.946 mm−1, respectively. The results showed significant differences among the μa and μs′ of the three parts of the kiwifruit. The results of this study confirmed the importance of studying the optical properties for a quantitative understanding of light interaction with fruit tissue. Further investigation of fruit optical properties will be extended to a broader spectral region and different kinds of fruits.