Ronnie Hoekstra

Photodissociation of protonated leucine-enkephalin in the VUV range of 8–40 eV

Until now, photodissociation studies on free complex protonated peptides were limited to the UV wavelength range accessible by intense lasers. We have studied photodissociation of gas-phase protonated leucine-enkephalin cations for vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) photons energies ranging from 8 to 40 eV. We report time-of-flight mass spectra of the photofragments and various photofragment-yields as a function of photon energy. For sub-ionization energies our results are in line with existing studies on UV photodissociation of leucine-enkephalin. For photon energies exceeding 10 eV we could identify a new dissociation scheme in which photoabsorption leads to a fast loss of the tyrosine side chain. This loss process leads to the formation of a residual peptide that is remarkably cold internally.

Cq+-induced excitation and fragmentation of uracil : effects of the projectile electronic structure

Ionization and fragmentation of the RNA base uracil (C4H4N2O2) by means of Cq+ ions (q = 1-6) has been studied for ion kinetic energies ranging from ;2 to 120 keV. Whereas for Cq+ (q = 1, 3, 4, 5, 6) very similar fragmentation yields are observed which increase with the projectile velocity v, C2+ ions not only induce a fundamentally different fragmentation pattern but also lead to a decrease of fragmentation with ion velocity v. At low velocities, even almost complete fragmentation is observed. Our findings can be explained by differences in the electronic structures of the Cq+ ions as well as by employing the electronic stopping model previously applied to ion-fullerene interactions.

Spectral analysis of the Chandra comet survey

Aims.We present results of the analysis of cometary X-ray spectra with an extended version of our charge exchange emission model (Bodewits et al. 2006). We have applied this model to the sample of 8 comets thus far observed with the Chandra X-ray observatory and ACIS spectrometer in the 300-1000 eV range. The surveyed comets are C/1999 S4 (LINEAR), C/1999 T1 (McNaught-Hartley), C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR), 153P/2002 (Ikeya-Zhang), 2P/2003 (Encke), C/2001 Q4 (NEAT), 9P/2005 (Tempel 1) and 73P/2006-B (Schwassmann-Wachmann 3) and the observations include a broad variety of comets, solar wind environments and observational conditions. Methods.The interaction model is based on state selective, velocity dependent charge exchange cross sections and is used to explore how cometary X-ray emission depend on cometary, observational and solar wind characteristics. It is further demonstrated that cometary X-ray spectra mainly reflect the state of the local solar wind. The current sample of Chandra observations was fit using the constrains of the charge exchange model, and relative solar wind abundances were derived from the X-ray spectra. Results.Our analysis showed that spectral differences can be ascribed to different solar wind states, as such identifying comets interacting with (I) fast, cold wind, (II), slow, warm wind and (III) disturbed, fast, hot winds associated with interplanetary coronal mass ejections. We furthermore predict the existence of a fourth spectral class, associated with the cool, fast high latitude wind.

Quantification of ion-induced molecular fragmentation of isolated 2-deoxy-D-ribose molecules.

Recent experiments on low energy ion-induced damage to DNA building blocks indicate that ion induced DNA damage is dominated by deoxyribose disintegration (Phys. Rev. Lett., 2005, 95, 153201). We have studied interactions of keV H+ and He(q+) with isolated deoxyribose molecules by means of high resolution time-of-flight spectrometry. Extensive statistical fragmentation of the molecules is observed. The fragment distribution is found to follow a power law dependence. The exponent can be used to characterize and quantify the molecular damage.

IONIZATION AND FRAGMENTATION OF ANTHRACENE UPON INTERACTION WITH keV PROTONS AND α PARTICLES

The interaction of keV ions with polyaromatic hydrocarbons is dominated by charge exchange and electronic stopping. We have studied the response of the polyaromatic hydrocarbon anthracene (C14H10) upon keV H+ and He2+ impact using high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Extensive fragmentation into small C n H q+ m as well as formation of up to triply charged parent ions is observed. Ab initio electron densities are used to calculate the molecular excitation due to electronic stopping. Fragment yields increase with the increase of electronic stopping as a function of projectile velocity. For equal electronic stopping, He2+ is found to induce more fragmentation than H+. The difference in fragmentation is concluded to be due to two electron processes, which are relevant channels only for He2+.

Neutral beam stopping and emission in fusion plasmas I : deuterium beams

The charge transfer reaction of neutral deuterium beams with impurities enables one of the principle quantitative diagnostic measurements of the hot core fusion plasma; that is, charge exchange spectroscopy. The complementary measurement of beam emission spectroscopy has been fruitful in motional Stark wavelength shift and fluctuation studies, but less so in using absolute measured intensities. In the last two years we have achieved substantial improvement in the quantitative analysis and agreement between the observed and modelled beam emission at the JET Joint Undertaking. This has depended on improved spectral fitting of the overlayed Dα motional Stark multiplet, self-consistent beam emission and impurity charge exchange modelling and analysis, and revision of the data entering the modelling of the beam emission process. The paper outlines the present JET beam emission diagnostic system and the collisional radiative modelling of deuterium beam stopping and emission. The nature and organization of the effective derived data directly used in experimental interpretation at JET are described and some results of spectral analysis of deuterium beam emission given. The practical implementation of the methods described here is part of the ADAS Project.

Interactions of neutral and singly charged keV atomic particles with gas-phase adenine molecules

KeV atomic particles traversing biological matter are subject to charge exchange and screening effects which dynamically change this particles effective charge. The understanding of the collision cascade along the track thus requires a detailed knowledge of the interaction dynamics of radiobiologically relevant molecules, such as DNA building blocks or water, not only with ionic but also with neutral species. We have studied collisions of keV H(+), He(+), and C(+) ions and H(0), He(0), and C(0) atoms with the DNA base adenine by means of high resolution time-of-flight spectrometry. For H(0) and H(+) we find qualitatively very similar fragmentation patterns, while for carbon, strong differences are observed when comparing C(0) and C(+) impact. For collisions with He(0) and He(+) projectiles, a pronounced delayed fragmentation channel is observed, which has not been reported before.

Sputtering of silicon by multiply charged ions

Abstract We report on the sputtering of Si by 20 keV multiply charged Ar ions with primary charge state q ⩽ 9. To investigate the role of “electronic” sputtering, both the yield of positively charged secondary ions and the total sputtering yield (i.e. ions + neutrals) have been measured versus q. The secondary ion yield increases with increasing q, but the total sputtering yield remains however unaffected. From the comparably small effect observed we conclude that “electronic” sputtering does not contribute significantly to the ejection process.

Near-edge X-ray absorption mass spectrometry of a gas-phase peptide.

We have studied the dissociation of the gas-phase protonated peptide leucine enkephalin [YGGFL+H](+) upon X-ray absorption in the region of the C K-edge. The yield of photodissociation products was recorded as a function of photon energy. The total photoabsorption yield is qualitatively similar to near-edge X-ray absorption fine structure (NEXAFS) spectra recorded from condensed phase peptides and proteins. Fragment specificity reveals distinct quantitative differences between spectra obtained for different masses. Fragmentation channels can be assigned to specific electronic transitions some of which are site specific. For instance, C 1s → π(★) excitations in the leucine enkephalin aromatic side chains lead to relatively little fragmentation, whereas such excitations along the peptide backbone induce strong fragmentation.

Charge exchange emission from solar wind helium ions

Charge exchange X-ray and far-ultraviolet (FUV) aurorae can provide detailed insight into the interaction between solar system plasmas. Using the two complementary experimental techniques of photon emission spectroscopy and translation energy spectroscopy, we have studied state-selective charge exchange in collisions between fully ionized helium and target gasses characteristic of cometary and planetary atmospheres (H2O, CO2, CO, and CH4). The experiments were performed at velocities typical for the solar wind (200-1500 km s-1). Data sets are produced that can be used for modeling the interaction of solar wind alpha particles with cometary and planetary atmospheres. These data sets are used to demonstrate the diagnostic potential of helium line emission. Existing Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer (EUVE) observations of comets Hyakutake and Hale-Bopp are analyzed in terms of solar wind and coma characteristics. The case of Hale-Bopp illustrates well the dependence of the helium line emission to the collision velocity. For Hale-Bopp, our model requires low velocities in the interaction zone. We interpret this as the effect of severe post-bow shock cooling in this extraordinary large comet.