Photosynthesis Applications:

A wide selection of lamp sizes enables the user to attach the source directly to many available leaf chambers. The SpectraLife lamp eliminates the confounding of leaf temperature with photosynthetic activity because of the absence of infrared radiant energy.

Leaf photosynthesis measurements have become increasingly more accurate with the use of controls for leaf temperature, gas concentrations, gas flow, improved, IRGAs, and a better theoretical understanding of the photosynthetic process. Now, light intensity as well as light quality can be easily controlled, in the lab or field, by use of the SpectraLife solid state technology.

The SpectraLife's continuous photon output can be controlled from zero to full intensity (1500 to 2000 umol per meter squared per second @670nm) dependent on experimental configurations. This wide range of light intensity is accompanied by no more than 10nm shift in peak wavelength, which is a great advantage for the study of photosynthetic response to light.

Light Regulation of Gene Expression:

The SpectraLife is available with a dual LED array, 670nm peak far red and 735nm peak near IR, that can be used to activate and deactivate the plant photoreceptor phytochrome. This design eliminates the need for filters and water jackets by using highly repeatable semiconductor technology. The user can easily establish repeatable dose response curves for many genes (rbcS, cab, Fed1, and phy) activated by the phytochrome system. The lamp is also useful for seedling germination and cotyledon development studies to further elucidate HIR and end-of-day responses. Lastly much larger lamps can be custom built for whole plant research of normal and mutant plants. The high intensities of pure red light make an excellent choice for selection of constitutive blue photoreceptor mutants.