AQUILA: A laboratory facility for the irradiation of astrochemical ice analogs by keV ions

Rácz, Richárd Péter and Kovács, Sándor and Lakatos, Gergő and Kumar Kushwaha, Rahul and Mifsud, Duncan and Herczku, Péter and Sulik, Béla and Juhász, Zoltán and Perduk, Zoltán and Ioppolo, S. and Mason, Nigel J. and Field, T. A. and Biri, Sándor and McCullough, R. W. (2024) AQUILA: A laboratory facility for the irradiation of astrochemical ice analogs by keV ions. REVIEW OF SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS, 95 (9). ISSN 0034-6748

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Abstract

The detection of various molecular species, including complex organic molecules relevant to biochemical and geochemical processes, in astronomical settings, such as the interstellar medium or the outer solar system, has led to the increased need for a better understanding of the chemistry occurring in these cold regions of space. In this context, the chemistry of ices prepared and processed at cryogenic temperatures has proven to be of particular interest due to the fact that many interstellar molecules are believed to originate within the icy mantles adsorbed on nano- and micro-scale dust particles. The chemistry leading to the formation of such molecules may be initiated by ionizing radiation in the form of galactic cosmic rays or stellar winds, and thus, there has been an increased interest in commissioning experimental setups capable of simulating and better characterizing this solid-phase radiation astrochemistry. In this article, we describe a new facility called AQUILA (Atomki-Queen’s University Ice Laboratory for Astrochemistry), which has been purposefully designed to study the chemical evolution of ices analogous to those that may be found in the dense interstellar medium or the outer solar system as a result of their exposure to keV ion beams. The results of some ion irradiation studies of CH3OH ice at 20 K are discussed to exemplify the experimental capabilities of the AQUILA as well as to highlight its complementary nature to another laboratory astrochemistry setup at our institute.

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