I carried out an experiment related to impact of alternating temperature on growth of Helicoverpa armigera insect under growth chamber by changing the temperature after 14 and 10 hrs. Whether this growth chamber follows sine, ramp or square pattern in temperature increase/ decrease.
Depends on several things. Growth chambers come in sizes from a small refrigerator to walk-in units that fit multiple people comfortably. It depends on the light source and the temperature that the lighting generated, the light level in the chamber, and the ability of the air handling unit to correct for the sources of heat. It also depends on where your plants are in the room/chamber. Finally, some of these things change as bulbs age, and the chamber gets used. That is a chamber straight from the manufacturer will be slightly different from one that has been used a couple of years.
It depends on your scale of interest. The chamber might look uniform to a human, but a plant will respond to differences beyond your ability to detect without the assistance of scientific equipment.
It also depends on what is in the chamber. Is it empty, or does it have a couple of tables, a chair, several dozen other plants, and a large screen cage? All those will influence the ability of the air handling unit to recycle the air and keep the temperature uniform.
If the chamber is set to be uniform, then a sine wave might be a good model. If there is a day-night cycle, especially one that includes a change in temperature, then there will be a sharp transition. One might model this as a square wave, but the transition will take some time to reach the new equilibrium point.
The safest approach would be to measure it periodically, or continuously if you have the equipment.
I think incubators work on sine pattern because temperature continuously get fluctuated by + or - 1 degree or 2 depending on the condition of the instrument. Ramp pattern is not feasible as its an abrupt change and there is no pause on a single temperature so square pattern is also not an option. I will ask it to a friend of mine who is doing Phd in refrigeration from BITS, Pilani and will convey you back.
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