A New Quantum Sensor for Measuring Photosynthetically Active Radiation

Abstract:

A quantum sensor measures photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, in µmol of photons m-2 s-1) in the 400 nm to 700 nm waveband. Plants utilize this radiation to drive photosynthesis, though individual plant responses to incident radiation may vary within this range. The new quantum sensor (model LI-190R, LI-COR Biosciences, Lincoln, NE), with an optical filter and silicon photodiode detector housed in a cosine-corrected head, is designed to provide a better response to incident radiation across the 400-700 nm range. The new design is expected to significantly improve spectral response due to uniformity across the PAR waveband, but particularly in the wavebands from 520 nm to 600 nm and 665 nm to 680 nm, and sharp cutoffs in the regions below and above the PAR waveband. Special care was taken to make sure that PAR sensor would not substantially respond to incident radiation above the 700 nm threshold because this can lead to errors when performing measurements in environments with a large proportion of near-infrared radiation, such as canopy understory. The physical housing of the sensor is designed to be weather-resistant, to effectively shed precipitation, provide protection at high temperature and high humidity conditions, and has a cosine-corrected response to 82° zenith angle. The latter is particularly important when measuring incident radiation at low elevation angles, diffuse light, or low light conditions. This presentation describes the principles of the new design, and shows the performance results from field experiments and laboratory tests.