Nanoscale cryo-vessels for studying the growth of organic molecules in the interstellar medium

Complex organic molecules, such as amino acids and nucleobases, have been identified in a range of astronomical objects, including comets, asteroids, and possibly even in the gas phase of the interstellar medium. But how complex molecules are formed from smaller building blocks in those environments is not fully understood.

Some laboratory studies have been able to produce amino acids in analogs of astronomical ice grains and in a limited number of gas phase conditions.

However, these studies leave a lot of open questions as to the importance of different reaction mechanisms and pathways.

For this study I will develop a new experimental setup that uses superfluid helium nanodroplets as cold environments to prepare and study reactions relevant to the formation of complex organic molecules, e.g. amino acids, in space.

I will use the droplets to capture reactants that are thought to lead to the growth or more complex organic species, which will cool and form loosely bound complexes in the inert liquid. By using electron impact ionization or photoionization I will then trigger reactions within the these clusters.

Varying the initial conditions and analyzing the products will allow me to determine the relative importance of different reactions mechanisms and identify new ones.

The setup that I will build will be versatile and can be used together with other advanced techniques, like storage rings and exotic light sources, and will be a powerful tool for my future studies.