Initially, we will look for plant stress caused by poor nutrition, but the final design will have the capacity to detect other stresses, like disease. The traditional laboratory technique for detecting chlorophyll fluorescence includes securing a leaf in place with clips, directing a high-intensity beam onto the leaf, and monitoring the resulting fluorescence. Taking measurements from the whole plant canopy will provide a faster, more comprehensive evaluation of the plants' condition. With a relatively new technology like this, solving one problem can have a domino effect on finding other practical applications, such as in agriculture. The Russian scientists who developed the AOTF spectrometer really like this connection.
Scientists use spectrometers to measure wavelengths of light.
The AOTF spectrometer is ideal for monitoring plant stresses during an extended space mission because it has no mechanically moving parts, which makes it small, fast, and reliable. It fits in my hand, and has faster scanning capacity than older types. It can detect thousands of distinctive shades in milliseconds. It also can be calibrated or tuned very rapidly, so it can be set up in only 10 minutes or less. It doesn't even require much power.