The light induced transient absorbance changes associated with the trap of photosystem I have been studied using magnetically oriented spinach chloroplasts and a polarized measuring beam. The deltaA spectra for the two polarization parallel and perpendicular to the plane of the photosynthetic membranes have been recorded in the spectral range 630-850 nm. A dichroic ratio greater than two is observed both in the main band around 700 nm and in the radical cation band around 810 nm, leading to the conclusion that the far-red transition moment of the P-700 dimeric species is lying almost parallel to the membrane plane. Dichroic ratios smaller than one are reported in the 650-670 nm band of the delta A spectrum. The possible attribution of this band to excitonic interactions in the dimers favors the hypothesis of a tilting out of the membrane plane of this transition. This finding ruled out an orientation parallel to the membrane plane of the two chlorophyll molecules constituting the P-700 phototrap. A small residual transient absorbance change is observed in the absence artificial electron acceptor. Its spectrum shows significant differences as compared to the normal P-700 spectrum: the magnitude of the signal at 700 nm is only 15-25% of the normal signal, the half-band width of the band around 700 nm is nearly twice as large and the dichroic ratio in the band is only 1.5 +/- 0.1. In the presence of ferricyanide, this signal is still observed both for intact and osmotically broken chloroplasts, suggesting a heterogeneity in the population of traps in Photosystem I.