TECHNOLOGY - PRINCIPLES OF OUR SYSTEMS

The state of the photosynthetic machinery can be diagnosed on the basis of the gas exchange – CO₂ uptake, O₂ evolution and water evaporation (transpiration) – and optical measurements such as chlorophyll fluorescence and small absorption changes at different spectral wavelengths. For the gas exchange measurements the plant or leaf is enclosed in a measuring chamber, a specific gas mixture is blown through the chamber and concentration differences of the component gases (e.g. CO₂, O₂, H₂O) are measured between the outlet and the inlet.
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To activate photosynthesis, the plant (or leaf) must be illuminated with light. For simultaneous optical measurements the leaf (or leaves) must be exposed to measuring beams and must be “visible” to the sensors. Temperature must be stable during the measurements, independent of light intensity and evaporation from the leaves. These technical problems of stabilizing the environmental conditions uniformly for the whole leaf area, and maximally avoiding interference between the environmental parameters and different optical measurements simultaneously with conducting precise measurements of gas concentrations and optical parameters have been solved by Fast-Est Instruments. These technical solutions are now available to all researchers.