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We present a goniometer designed for capturing spectral and angular-resolved data from scattering and absorbing media. The experimental apparatus is complemented by a comprehensive Monte Carlo simulation, meticulously replicating the radiative transport processes within the instrument's optical components and simulating scattering and absorption across arbitrary volumes. Consequently, we were able to construct a precise digital replica, or "twin", of the experimental setup. This digital counterpart enabled us to tackle the inverse problem of deducing optical parameters such as absorption and scattering coefficients, along with the scattering anisotropy factor from measurements. We achieved this by fitting Monte Carlo simulations to our goniometric measurements using a Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm. Validation of our approach was performed using polystyrene particles, characterized by Mie scattering, supplemented by a theoretical analysis of algorithmic convergence. Ultimately, we demonstrate strong agreement between optical parameters derived using our novel methodology and those obtained via established measurement protocols. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the dependence of the photochromic effect on environment and triggering light. We demonstrate that the first darkening/bleaching cycle of freshly grown films is accompanied by a release of weakly bound hydrogen, most likely present at the grain boundaries. For consecutive photochromic cycles, we do not find further exchange of material with the environment. Moreover, we report bleaching kinetics dependent on the gas environment after darkening with light of energies below the optical bandgap of the film. For darkening with photon energies above the bandgap of the film, we report a linear relation between the degree of darkening and bleaching relaxation time irrespective of gas environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]