Sophie Carles

In-situ small-angle x-ray scattering study of nanoparticles in the plasma plume induced by pulsed laser irradiation of metallic targets

Small angle x-ray scattering was used to probe in-situ the formation of nanoparticles in the plasma plume generated by pulsed laser irradiation of a titanium metal surface under atmospheric conditions. The size and morphology of the nanoparticles were characterized as function of laser irradiance. Two families of nanoparticles were identified with sizes on the order of 10 and 70 nm, respectively. These results were confirmed by ex-situ transmission electron microscopy experiments.

Laboratory measurements of the recombination of PAH ions with electrons: implications for the PAH charge state in interstellar clouds.

Laboratory measurements of the recombination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) ions with electrons are presented. Experimental data have been obtained at room temperature for azulene (C10H8) and acenaphthene (C12H10) cations by the Flowing Afterglow with PhotoIons method. The results confirm that the recombination of PAH ions is fast although well below the geometrical limit. The set of our recent and present measurements reveal a definite trend of increasing rate with the number of carbon atoms of the PAH. This behaviour that needs further characterization is potentially of great interest for charge state models as recombination is a dominant mechanism of PAH ion destruction in the interstellar medium. The design of experiments to measure the recombination of larger PAHs and their temperature dependence is discussed.

Electron and ion reactions with hexamethyldisiloxane and pentamethyldisiloxane

The dissociative recombination of electrons with the hexamethyldisiloxane (HMDSO) cation ((CH(3))(3)Si-O-Si(CH(3))(3))(+) and the pentamethyldisiloxane cation ((CH(3))(3)Si-O-Si(CH(2))(2))(+) as well as the ion-molecule reaction between Ar(+) and HMDSO have been studied at 300 K using a flowing afterglow Langmuir probe-mass spectrometer apparatus. The rate constants for these reactions, measured directly for the first time, are, respectively, alpha(1)=1.8 x 10(-6), alpha(2)=3.6 x 10(-6) cm(3)s, and k=2.0 x 10(-9) cm(3)s with uncertainties of +/-30%. In addition, the electronic attachment to neutral HMDSO was also studied and an upper limit value of the rate constant was determined to be beta=3.3 x 10(-11) cm(3)s.

Rotational spectrum of ethyl cyanoacetylene (C2H5C≡C-C≡N), a compound of potential astrochemical interest

Context. New radiotelescopes, such as the very sensitive ALMA, will enable the detection of interstellar molecules in much lower concentrations than previously possible. A successful identification of an interstellar molecule requires that laboratory microwave and millimeter-wave spectra are investigated. Several cyanopolyynes and alkynylcarbonitriles have already been detected in the interstellar medium (ISM). Cyanoacetylene (HC≡C-C≡N) is abundant in the ISM and its methyl derivative, 2-butynenitrile (CH3C≡C-C≡N), is also present. The next derivative, ethyl cyanoacetylene, (2-pentynenitrile C2H5C≡C-C≡N) may also be present in interstellar space. Aims. We report the rotational spectrum of the ethyl cyanoacetylene (C2H5C≡C-C≡N). This is hoped to facilitate identifying gaseous ethyl cyanoacetylene in the ISM. Methods. We studied the rotational spectrum of C2H5C≡C-C≡N between 13 and 116 GHz with the microwave spectrometer of the University of Oslo. The spectroscopic study was augmented by high-level quantum-chemical calculations at B3LYP/cc-pVTZ and CCSD/cc-pVTZ levels of theory. Results. We present for the first time the rotational spectrum of the ethyl cyanoacetylene (C2H5C≡C-C≡N). We assigned 342 transitions of the vibrational ground state, accurate values were obtained for rotational and centrifugal distortion constants, and the dipole moment was determined as well.

The ion–molecule reaction of O+ with N2 measured down to 23 K

Abstract The rate constant of the O + +N 2 ion–molecule reaction has been measured from 225 down to 23 K with the CRESU technique. It has been found that the rate slightly increases when temperature decreases down to 23 K but remains two orders of magnitude below the Langevin rate. This indicates that the reaction does not occur via a long lived complex.

Low-Temperature Reactivity of C2n+1N(-) Anions with Polar Molecules.

Following the recent discovery of molecular anions in the interstellar medium, we report on the kinetics of proton transfer reactions between cyanopolyynide anions C2n+1N(-) (n = 0, 1, 2) and formic acid HCOOH. The results, obtained from room temperature down to 36 K by means of uniform supersonic flows, show a surprisingly weak temperature dependence of the CN(-) reaction rate, in contrast with longer chain anions. The CN(-) + HCOOH reaction is further studied theoretically via a reduced dimensional quantum model that highlights a tendency of the reaction probability to decrease with temperature, in agreement with experimental data but at the opposite of conventional long-range capture theories. In return, comparing HCOOH to HC3N as target molecules suggests that dipole-dipole interactions must play an active role in overcoming this limiting effect at low temperatures. This work provides new fundamental insights on prototypical reactions between polar anions and polar molecules along with critical data for astrochemical modeling.

Chemistry of nitrile anions in the interstellar medium

Despite the extreme conditions of temperature (down to 10K) and density (down to 100 molecules/cm3), the giant molecular clouds and the circumstellar envelopes present a rich and complex chemistry. To date, more than 180 molecules have been detected in the InterStellar Medium (ISM) with a large abundance of nitriles (RC≡N). In addition, several anions have been recently observed in this medium: C4H¯, C6H¯, C8H¯, CN¯, C3N¯ and C5N¯. These last species should play a key role in the molecular growth towards complexity. To explore this hypothesis, their reactivity must be studied in the laboratory. The FALP-MS and the CRESU experimental apparatuses of the Rennes University are able to measure absolute rate coefficient of various chemical reactions, including the ion – molecule reactions, in gas phase at low temperature (from 300K for the FALP-MS down to 15K for the CRESU). Therefore, these experimental tools are particularly adapted to the kinetic studies of reactions potentially involved in the Interstellar ...