Preparation and quantitative characterization of polydimethylsiloxane optical phantoms with zinc-phthalocyanine dye...

We described a method for the preparation of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) phantoms to mimic the optical properties of biologic tissues at distinct wavelengths ranging from the visible to the near-infrared spectra. The present method for fabricating solid optical tissue phantoms using zinc-phthalocyanine chromophores has demonstrated high photostability with optical absorption coefficients up to 1.0  mm^-1, making this phantom proper with absorption bands ranging from 600 to 850 nm. It also happens that the chromophore absorption coefficient is linear as a function of its concentration inside the previous optical window. The optical scattering properties were quantitatively selected by adding TiO₂ particle concentrations to the PDMS phantom. Thus, the quantitative optical properties of absorption and scattering for a large-batch fabrication were demonstrated, making the zinc-phthalocyanine phantoms suitable for use as a reference standard.