Averaging sphere for ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared wavelengths: a highly effective design.

Through the use of an efficient design and a newly available sphere coating material, a simple, passive, sturdy averaging sphere was made that operates effectively over the wavelength range from 200 nm to 2000 nm. Data are reported for a sphere of this type in which the sphere transmittance is 0.32 at 200 nm and rises rapidly to near the maximum theoretical value of 0.56 over the remainder of the wavelength range. The several orders of magnitude reduction in error due to beam displacement more than compensate the slight reduction in signal for many spectrophotometric and radiometric applications.