AJ Mesko Ian Wagner Stefanie Milam Susanna Widicus Weaver PROBING GAS PHASE CHEMISTRY ABOVE ICE SURFACES WITH MILLIMETER/ SUBMILLIMETER SPECTROSCOPY The Trifid Nebula, NASA AJ Mesko Ian Wagner Stefanie Milam Susanna Widicus Weaver http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130128.html The Trifid Nebula

Why is Ice Important Icy Grain Chemistry Our Experiment The Spectrometer Proof of Concept Future Experimentation

Icy Grain Chemistry

http://chemistry.emory.edu/faculty/widicusweaver/prebiotic.html

What we do Analyzing the gas phase products of Icy Grain Reactions by mm/sub-mm Spectroscopy UV Lamp Photolyzing Radiation CH3OH mm/sub-mm source .OH H2O Detector .CH3O H2O CH3OH CH3OH H2O CH3OH H2O Gold Substrate Heating

http://chemistry.emory.edu/faculty/widicusweaver/prebiotic.html

Why We Do It Gain information on chemical mechanisms by which COMs can form by icy grain chemistry. Analyze the effects that different ice compositions and physical properties have on the formation of COMs

The Budget Spectrometer Built mostly of borrowed parts and on a strict budget Cryopad Setup 1 Liquid Helium Cryostat Sapphire windows Gold substrate on cold head Say it was the Leiden group who developed instead of butchering the name 1. van Broekhuizen, F. 2005, Ph.D. Thesis, Leiden University

Temperature Controller Microwave Synthisizer Multiplier Chain Cryostat To pump UV Lamp Sample Line Detector Lock In Amplifier Temperature Controller Microwave Synthisizer CPU

Temperature Programmed Desorption of Pure Water Ices Proof of Concept Temperature Programmed Desorption of Pure Water Ices

Comperable as to what was seen by Fraiser et al 2001

Proof of Concept Continued: Temperature Programmed Desorption of Pure Methanol Ice

Conclusions A working mm/sub-mm spectrometer capable of detecting desorption products has been built Results from other Temperature programmed desorption experiments of pure water2 are in agreement with those produced by this instrument 2. Fraser et. Al 2001

The Future Photolysis and photodesorption testing The Addition of RAIRS for solid phase analysis A Dirty Chamber Water/organic mixture studies Effect of Ice thickness and crystallinity Gas phase photolysis and thermal product studies Reflection Absorption InfraRed Spec

Acknowledgements Danna Qasim The Widicus Weaver Research Group Emory University NASA GSFC SIF Program