Infrared specroscopy of free-flying dust particles

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Cosmic dust particles are progenitors of new planets in young stellar systems and an aftermath of planet formation in older ones. Observation of these dust particles by means of infrared Spectroscopy allows one to characterize the evolutionary state of planetary systems and to investigate the dynamical processes occuring in them. Today, new instruments such as the Spitzer space telescope deliver such data on more objects and in better quality than before. In order to interprete these data, laboratory measurements of infrared spectra of particles with different compositions, shapes and sizes are necessary. In the present project we plan to use a novel technique to measure such laboratory spectra for the first time on free-flying particles, to investigate the shape and size dependence, and to make them available for comparison with observations through a public data base. Selected observed spectra, especially such of debris disks, will be compared with the new data by ourselves in order to constrain the dust composition, size and morphology. Another important goal of this project is to use the measured band profiles for the calibration of light-scattering models for realistic dust particle ensembles.