Using a portable spectroradiometer for evaluating greenhouse light sources and vegetation growth

Research on plant growth done in a climate controlled chamber or a greenhouse setting can use a wide range of light sources, including LED, UV, High Pressure Sodium (HPS), and more. When selecting your light source you need to evaluate any effect the source you choose may have on your plant growth and research.

With an SR-1901 portable spectroradiometer, you can measure the effect of different light sources and compare the results to natural lighting – sunlight.

Photosynthetic response in plants correlates to a measure of the radiant power of the light source. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) is defined by photons in flux and measured in micromoles/square meter/second.

The SR-1901 spectroradiometer from Spectral Evolution can be used to measure PAR. A typical configuration could include an SR-1901 with a fixed 1.2 meter fiber and a right angle diffuser that is calibrated to NIST standards. The SR-1901 collects high resolution scans of the light sources you wish to compare.

Our DARWin SP Data Acquisition software is included with every instrument and provides access to 19 vegetation indices via a pull down menu. One of these indices is for PAR. This capability recalculates the light output in micromole/m2/second. An energy integration function allows the SR-1901 to output total integrated power from any selectable range between 280 and 1900nm.

The SR-1901 has a spectral range from 280-1900nm.

DARWin SP Data Acquisition software

DARWin SP Data Acquisition software is included with every spectrometer and spectroradiometer. DARWin includes a pulldown menu for access to 19 vegetation indices including PAR.

SR-1901PT portable spectroradiometer

SR-1901 Spectroradiometer

The SR-1901PT is designed for validating the output of pulsed solar simulators. The system is especially well-suited for testing the power ratings of photovoltaic modules and solar panels. All systems come with the subroutines necessary to generate high quality solar spectra and spectral matching reports.