Title of Presentation or Performance
Design and Construction of a Gas-Phase Instrument to Study Astronomically Relevant Molecules
Submission Type
Event
Expected Graduation Date
2014
Location
Atrium, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
Start Date
4-20-2013 9:00 AM
End Date
4-20-2013 10:00 AM
Disciplines
Chemistry
Abstract
It is known that the chemistry in space is more diverse than on Earth. Therefore, astrochemists are interested in the kinetic studies of molecular formation in space. In Perera lab, a custom instrument is being built to study the kinetics and dynamics of molecules known to exist in space. The instrument is composed of three vacuum chambers. These create a high vacuum (10-7 torr) where low temperature (10-100 K) molecules could survive, to simulate an environment similar to that of space. In the first chamber, an ion source creates charged molecules needed for reaction studies. A faraday cup is used to monitor the ion current generated by the ion source as a troubleshooting mechanism. My work involved designing and constructing the ion source, and constructing the faraday cup. Future work includes assembling the components within the first chamber, and creating ion optics needed to guide ions to the second chamber.
Design and Construction of a Gas-Phase Instrument to Study Astronomically Relevant Molecules
Atrium, Center for Natural Sciences, Illinois Wesleyan University
It is known that the chemistry in space is more diverse than on Earth. Therefore, astrochemists are interested in the kinetic studies of molecular formation in space. In Perera lab, a custom instrument is being built to study the kinetics and dynamics of molecules known to exist in space. The instrument is composed of three vacuum chambers. These create a high vacuum (10-7 torr) where low temperature (10-100 K) molecules could survive, to simulate an environment similar to that of space. In the first chamber, an ion source creates charged molecules needed for reaction studies. A faraday cup is used to monitor the ion current generated by the ion source as a troubleshooting mechanism. My work involved designing and constructing the ion source, and constructing the faraday cup. Future work includes assembling the components within the first chamber, and creating ion optics needed to guide ions to the second chamber.