Investigation of Ground Cherry's Leafy Husk transparency to intense visible and laser light for quality control

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Ground cherry is a plant in the same family as tomatoes. A notable feature of the ground cherry is the formation of a large papery husk (leafy envelope), which partly or fully encloses the fruit. This plant grows typically in warm temperatures and subtropical regions; thus, is less known in Canada due to the colder climate of our country. Yet, a few farmers in all the provinces plant and distribute their produce to the local market. Since the plant is not widely grown in Canada, producers have had difficulties in preserving the fruit and increasing the quality of their harvest. In Quebec, there exists only one producer of ground cherry - Ferme Granger Inc., located in Saint Jean sur Richelieu. We aim to increase the quality of the produce by evaluating if the ground cherry's skin is intact prior to the opening of the husk. The project consists of the investigation of the optical transmission properties of a ground cherry's husk. For that, we use high intensity light sources in the visible/near infrared range to evaluate the transmission coefficients of the leafy envelope. This is research in the field of Applied Physics which is done with students at Engineering Technologies Program at John Abbott College.