Open Photoacoustic Cell: Applications in Plant Photosynthesis Studies

Abstract

In this article, we review the applications of the open photoacoustic cell (OPC) technique in studies of photosynthetic activity in plant leaves. The ability to perform in vivo and in situ measurements makes this technique particularly suitable for monitoring photosynthesis of plants subjected to specific treatments. Therefore, our objective in the present article is to describe, in more detail, the principles of the OPC technique and to follow the historical path of its applications related to the study of plants and photosynthesis, including recent results.It will be shown that the technique has been used to observe spectroscopic responses to herbicide application and to soil toxicity, in the study of photosynthesis induction, gas exchange, photochemical loss, photoinhibition, photosynthesis saturation, and photosynthetic responses to changes in parameters such as temperature, atmospheric conditions, and nutrient availability. Recent results have demonstrated its usefulness in the determination of the action spectrum directly from oxygen evolution measurements.

Study of a Thermophysical System with Two Time Constants Using an Open Photoacoustic Cell

“…These applications are very versatile, ranging from thermal diffusivity [4][5][6][7] and thermal effusivity [8] measurements to detection of X-rays [2], characterization of heterostructure component materials [9], and in vivo and in situ studies in plant photosynthesis research [10].…”

Thermal characterisation of dye-intercalated K-10 montmorillonite ceramics using photoacoustic technique

“…This non-radiative relaxation produces temperature fluctuations in the sample. These temperature fluctuations facilitate an indirect measurement of the thermal and optical properties of the sample [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14]. In photoacoustics (PA), the pressure variations produced within the cell are detected using a sensitive microphone.…”

“…In photoacoustics (PA), the pressure variations produced within the cell are detected using a sensitive microphone. The laser-induced PA method has gained much popularity due to its simple, elegant and highly sensitive experimental setup, as well as the versatility in employing different configurations to measure the required thermo-physical parameters with great accuracy [1][2][3][4][10][11][12]. The PA method allows the profile of penetration of absorbed substances in sub-surface regions to be reconstructed [7].…”

Solving a coupled field problem by eigenmode expansion and finite element method

“…While for cylinder shaped cells some acoustical quantities of interest can be calculated analytically other quantities are not amenable to an analytical treatment [3]. In recent years, photoacoustic cells of unconventional cell geometry have come into focus [4,5]. In this case, analytical calculations are generally not possible.…”