@article{moffitt06a, author = {Theodore Moffitt and Yin-Chu Chen and Scott A. Prahl}, title = {Preparation and characterization of polyurethane optical phantoms}, journal = {Journal of Biomedical Optics}, pages = {041103}, volume = {11}, year = {2006}, abstract = {We describe a method for the preparation of a polyurethane phantom to simulate the optical properties of biologic tissues at two wavelengths in the visible and near infrared spectral range. We characterize the addition of added molecular absorbers with relatively narrow absorption bands (FWHM 32 and 76\,nm for Epolight 6084 and 4148 respectively) for independent absorption at 690\,nm for absorption up to 5\invcm\ and 830\,nm for absorptions up to 3\invcm. Absorption by both dyes is linear in these respective regions and is consistent in polyurethane both before and after curing. The dyes are stable over long durations with no more than 4\% change. The absorption of visible light by polyurethane decreases with time and is stable by one year with a drop of $0.03\pm 0.003$\invcm\ from 500--830\,nm. The scattering properties are selected by the addition of TiO$_2$ particles to the polyurethane which we functionally describe for the 690 and 830\,nm wavelengths as related to the weight per volume. We demonstrate that the variation in absorption and scattering properties for large batch fabrication (12 samples) is $\pm$3\%. The optical properties of the phantoms has not significantly changed in a period of exceeding one year which makes them suitable for use as a reference standard.}, }