Patent ID: 7576853

Claim:
A method of calibrating an instrument configured to execute time-series energy measurements of a target's response to incident energy, the method comprising: providing an electro-active device that is configured to be electronically modulated to control the electro-active device's opacity, the electro-active device being embedded in a dense scattering medium; selecting, for a target, a known time-dependent response pattern and at least one associated coefficient value corresponding to a known physical property; generating a time series of image frames by measuring a plurality of responses from said target to incident energy at a plurality of measurement wavelengths, wherein opacity of said electro-active device is adjusted for each image frame in said time series to correspond to all contributions due to selected measurement wavelength; computing a wavelength-dependent driving voltage function by normalizing said time series to a desired voltage response range of said electro-active device at each of said plurality of measurement wavelengths; applying a voltage to the electro-active device according to the wavelength-dependent driving voltage function to electrically modulate the electro-active device and thereby vary the opacity of the electro-active device; synchronizing the instrument with the wavelength-dependent voltage driving function; transmitting energy at said plurality of wavelengths to the scattering medium and receiving scattered energy from the scattering medium; determining, based on the received scattered energy, a time-dependent response pattern for the target; and comparing the known time-dependent response pattern and the determined time-dependent response pattern.