Physics and chemistry of icy particles in the universe: answers from microgravity

Light Scattering as a Clue to Cometary Dust Structure

“…A series of experimental simulations under microgravity conditions (on board aircraft, rockets or spacecraft) is being developed. Such experiments avoid sedimentation of the dust and may allow (with sufficient microgravity duration) the formation of realistic particles through aggregation/fragmentation and condensation/evaporation processes (Levasseur-Regourd et al 1998, Ehrenfreund et al 2003. The PROGRA 2 experiment provides polarization measurements on illuminated levitating dust samples at different phase angles, in the laboratory as well as during parabolic flights .…”

Ice particles trapped by temperature gradients at mbar pressure

“…More general, ice is important in planetary atmospheres and in a wider range of astrophysical environments [2]. The microphysics of ice particles, e.g.…”

Cooperative Interplay of van der Waals Forces and Quantum Nuclear Effects on Adsorption: H at Graphene and at Coronene

“…Hydrogen adsorption on carbon based materials such as graphite and graphene is relevant to hydrogen storage, 9 band gap engineering, [10][11][12][13] and potentially as the first step in H 2 formation in the interstellar medium. [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30] Although there is enormous interest in H adsorption on carbonaceous surfaces, with graphene, graphite and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) being the most widely studied model systems, we still don't fully understand the seemingly simple process of how a single H atom adsorbs on the surface.…”