Photochemistry simulation of planetary atmosphere using synchrotron radiation at Soleil. Application to Titan's atmosphere
نویسندگان
چکیده
We report here on the coupling of a gas reactor with a VUV beamline at the SOLEIL synchrotron radiation facility. The reactor may be irradiated window-less with gas pressure up to the atmosphere. The photochemistry is monitored by a mass spectrometer gas analyzer. This set up, termed APSIS for Atmospheric Photochemistry SImulated by Synchrotron, has been used to simulate the atmosphere of Titan and to study the formation of the photochemical smog and the formation of tholins.
منابع مشابه
Titan’s atmosphere simulation experiment using a continuous-spectrum UV-VUV synchrotron beamline
We report here a new reactor, named APSIS for Atmospheric Photochemistry SImulated by Synchrotron, where a gas mixture (N2/CH4=90/10) at various pressures in the mbar range in the reactor is irradiated using the continuous-spectrum (60-350 nm) DISCO beam in the SOLEIL Radiation Facility. The photochemical products, in situ detected by quadrupole mass spectrometry, include C2, C3, C4 and probabl...
متن کاملComposition Du Jury
Titan's VUV photochemistry is studied by laboratory simulation and numerical modeling. In the laboratory simulations, a gas ow of N2/CH4 (90/10) was irradiated by a continuous VUV (60-350 nm) synchrotron beam in a new reactor, named APSIS (Atmospheric Photochemistry SImulated by Synchrotron). The production of C2-C4 hydrocarbons as well as several nitriles is detected by in situ mass spectromet...
متن کاملSimulating Titan’s Upper Atmosphere and Its Photochemistry in the Vacuum
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has a dense atmosphere whose upper layers are mainly composed of methane (CH4) and molecular nitrogen (N2). The Cassini mission revealed that the interaction between those molecules and the solar VUV radiation, as well as the electrons from Saturn’s magnetosphere, leads to a complex chemistry above an altitude of 800km [1]; [2]; [3]; [4]. Cassini instruments s...
متن کاملFormation of nitrogenated organic aerosols in the Titan upper atmosphere.
Many aspects of the nitrogen fixation process by photochemistry in the Titan atmosphere are not fully understood. The recent Cassini mission revealed organic aerosol formation in the upper atmosphere of Titan. It is not clear, however, how much and by what mechanism nitrogen is incorporated in Titan's organic aerosols. Using tunable synchrotron radiation at the Advanced Light Source, we demonst...
متن کاملImpact - Generated Atmospheres over Titan , Ganymede ,
The competition between impact erosion and impact supply of volatiles to planetary atmospheres can determine whether a planet or satellite accumulates an atmosphere. In the absence of other processes (e.g., outgassing), we find either that a planetary atmosphere should be thick, or that there should be no atmosphere at all. The boundary between the two extreme cases is set by the mass and veloc...
متن کامل