July 26, 2021
Spectralon® is an extremely stable, near-perfect Lambertian reflecting diffuser and calibration standard material that has been used by national labs, space, aerospace and commercial sectors for over two decades. New uncertainty targets of 2% for on-orbit absolute validation in the Earth Observing Systems community have challenged the industry to improve its characterization and knowledge of almost every aspect of radiometric performance (space and ground).
Assuming “near perfect” reflectance and BRDF (bidirectional reflectance distribution factor) performance is no longer sufficient for many program needs. To ensure the lowest possible uncertainty, Spectralon has NVLAP* accreditation for total hemispherical spectral reflectance measurements. The hemispherical reflectance provides a good mark of general performance, but without the angular characterization critical data is missing from many applications.
Therefore, BRDF measurement capability is needed to characterize Spectralon’s “near perfect” angular response and provide a full uncertainty profile to many users. *ISO/IEC 17025:2005 Lab Code 200951-0