Part of our team specializes in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) spectral range, which corresponds to photon energies between 5 and 20 eV. We are interested in the (ro)vibronic structure of small molecular and radical species (neutral or cationic) of astrophysical interest, exploring them using either laser sources or synchrotron radiation from the DESIRS beamline of the SOLEIL French synchrotron facility located on the Saclay plateau.
In particular, this research activity uses the VULCAIM setup (“VUv Laser for Considering Astrophysical and Isolated Molecules”) at ISMO, which enables photoelectron (PFI-ZEKE and MATI) and photoion spectroscopies of stable and radical species over the 6-17 eV spectral range at both medium (< 3 cm-1) and high (< 10-1 cm-1) spectral resolution using tunable nanosecond VUV laser radiation.
Schematic view of the VULCAIM experimental set-up at ISMO.
In collaboration with J.-C. Loison of ISM Bordeaux, spectroscopic investigations are also carried out on the SAPHIRS set-up of the DESIRS beamline, which couples a flow-tube reactor and a photoelectron/photoion spectrometer in coincidence by double imaging coincidence technique to study the photoionization of radical species. Radicals are created by the reactivity of fluorine atoms with precursors containing carbon, hydrogen and various heteroatoms (O, N, Si, S, etc.).
Schematic view of the experimental setup used on the DESIRS beamline of the SOLEIL synchrotron.
The team is also interested in the VUV absorption of gas-phase molecules, explored thanks to a unique instrument: the Fourier transform VUV spectrometer on the DESIRS beamline. The spectrometer enables very high-resolution absorption measurements over a very wide energy range (from around 5 to 30 eV).
Modeling of experimental spectra obtained both at ISMO and SOLEIL gives rise to theoretical developments carried out directly within the team or through national and international collaborations.
Applications for doctoral and postdoctoral positions are welcome. Please contact us.
Contacts:
Séverine Boyé-Péronne
Laurent Coudert
Bérenger Gans
Ugo Jacovella