Absorption Coefficient Spectrum and Intracellular Pigment Concentration by an Example of Spirulina platensis

Abstract

In this work, an explicit analytical estimate of the absorption cross section of homogenous weakly refracting nonspherical particles and their suspensions is considered and justified. By an example of Spirulina platensis, a way of estimating the spectrum of pigment absorption coefficients in the region of photosynthetically active radiation has been implemented without the use of pigment extracts. The effect of the cell size and shape distribution on absorption spectra is studied. The intracellular concentration of chlorophyll a, phycoerythrin, and phycocyanin is estimated.