Evaluation of microfacet BRDF solar cell model modification using experimental data

The bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) describes a material's property of reflectance by relating incident irradiance to scattered radiance. Microfacet models are a popular class of BRDF, which assumes geometric optics often trading accuracy for computing speed in both scene generation and computer graphics. Another popular class of BRDF is physical optics models that account for wave optics effects; the main drawbacks are complexity and computing power. If a wave optics effect from a material with a known solution can be combined with a microfacet model, perhaps computing speed can be retained while improving accuracy of the model. Based on previous work extending to include out-of-plane measurements and combining a microfacet model with a clear diffraction effect off a solar panel, validation of the model will be conducted using alternative laser sources and solar cell samples. This will be compared to a wave optics model for the novel diffractive feature and physical data to determine validity.