Effect of multi-wavelength irradiation on color characterization with light-emitting diodes (LEDs)

In the current study, a multi-wavelength light-emitting diode (LED)-integrated CMOS imaging device was developed to investigate the effect of various wavelengths on multiple color characterization. Various color pigments (black, red, green, and blue) were applied on both white paper and skin phantom surfaces for quantitative analysis. The artificial skin phantoms were made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) mixed with coffee and TiO2 powder to emulate the optical properties of the human dermis. The customized LED-integrated imaging device acquired images of the applied pigments by sequentially irradiating with the LED lights in the order of white, red, green, and blue. Each color pigment induced a lower contrast during illumination by the light with the equivalent color. However, the illumination by light with the complementary (opposite) color increased the signal-to-noise ratio by up to 11-fold due to the formation of a strong contrast (i.e., red LED = 1.6 ± 0.3 vs. green LED = 19.0 ± 0.6 for red pigment). Detection of color pigments in conjunction with multi-wavelength LEDs can be a simple and reliable technique to estimate variations in the color pigments quantitatively.