Simultaneously Acquiring Optical and Acoustic Properties of Individual Microalgae Cells Suspended in Water
Hongjian Wang,
Ran Liao,
Zhihang Xiong,
Zhao Wang,
Jiajin Li,
Qian Zhou,
Yi Tao,
Hui Ma
Affiliations
Hongjian Wang
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine IntelliSensing and Computation, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Ran Liao
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine IntelliSensing and Computation, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Zhihang Xiong
Department of Photoelectric Technology, Foshan University, Guangzhou 528000, China
Zhao Wang
Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Jiajin Li
Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine IntelliSensing and Computation, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Qian Zhou
Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Yi Tao
Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Hui Ma
Guangdong Research Center of Polarization Imaging and Measurement Engineering Technology, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
Microalgae play a vital role in aquatic ecological research, but the fine classification of these tiny and various microalgae cells is still challenging for the community. In this paper, we propose a multimodality technique to simultaneously acquire the polarized light scattering, fluorescence and laser-induced acoustic wave signals originated from individual microalgae cells in water. Experiments of different species of Spirulina and different states of Microcystis have been conducted to test our experiment setup, and the results demonstrate that this method can well discriminate microalgae cells with pigment or microstructural differences. Moreover, with these modalities, the consumption of absorbed energy is evaluated quantitively, and a possible way to assess photosynthesis on a single-cell level is presented. This work is expected to be a powerful technique to probe the biophysical states of microalgae in the aquatic ecosystem.
