For the determining of optical properties with an integrating sphere, a sample layer is placed at an opening of an integrating a port and illuminated once through the sphere and once again from the outside in a punctiform manner. The total diffuse reflectance and transmittance of the sample is measured spectrally resolved with a spectrometer. From these two measured quantities, the absorption and effective scattering coefficients for each wavelength can be determined by comparison with the solution of the radiative transfer equation.

can be determined (see figure below left). At the ILM, the method was optimized taking into account all possible sphere errors (e.g. loss due to open ports, direct illumination of the detector) and validated on a large number of phantom measurements. With an optimized integrating sphere was created using modern 3D printing and professionally coated on the inside. In general, the integrating sphere is often regarded as a reference method for determining optical properties.