Merging Complementary Techniques in Laboratory Spectroscopy for Remote Sensing Applications

分子光谱学使我们能够在不容易到达的地方识别分子，比如地球大气层的上层、星际云、其他行星、彗星和冷恒星的大气层。光谱线的形状为我们提供了一个“窗口”，使我们能够深入了解控制辐射吸收和发射的机制，并在迄今为止接受的经典图像之外解释它们。除了分子鉴定和定量外，光谱技术还可以提供有关远程环境物理性质的信息。这是广泛用于大气研究的遥感的基础。对线形的极其精确的光谱测量可以帮助我们理解分子动力学的基本过程和遥感数据的解释。从遥感光谱中提取信息需要来自实验室光谱学和理论模型的量子态解析数据（线的位置、强度和形状）。

Molecular spectroscopy allows us to identify molecules in locations not easily accessible, such as the upper layers of the Earth’s atmosphere, interstellar clouds, and the atmospheres of other planets, comets and of cool stars. It is the shape of a spectral line that provides a “window” for us to look inside the mechanism governing the absorption and emission of radiation and interpret them beyond the classical pictures accepted so far. In addition to molecular identification and quantitation, spectroscopic techniques can provide information on the physical properties of remote environments. This is the basis of remote sensing which is used extensively in atmospheric studies. Extremely precise spectral measurements of a line shape can help us understand fundamental processes of molecular dynamics and in the interpretation of remote sensing data. Extracting information from remote sensing spectra requires quantum state-resolved data (line positions, intensities, and shapes) from both laboratory spectroscopy and from theoretical models. There is an increasing need for highly accurate compilations of line parameters of molecules that are common in various astrophysical environments including exoplanet atmospheres. This is being driven by the availability of ever increasingly high-resolution telescopes and instruments, including space-based such as Herschel, the future JWST, plane-based such as SOFIA, and ground based such as ALMA. For many of the molecules of interest, the line lists need to be able to span a large temperature range since they exists in different environments that span a wide temperature range. I propose to investigate N2O3, an undertaking that is most challenging because of the chemical instability of N2O3 and the fact that combinations of various experimental techniques and theoretical modelling, including ab initio calculations, are required. The goal of the proposed research is to obtain more accurate information on the low lying infrared bands in asymmetric- and possibly symmetric-N2O3 by recording, for the first time, the high resolution far-infrared spectrum of a cooled mixture of NO and NO2/N2O4. The concentration errors in the laboratory experiments can be overcome by measuring simultaneously, and on the same sample, suitable IR absorptions around 8-10 µm with a laser spectrometer that will be re-located from our lab for the experiments, and to determine the actual concentration by simultaneously recording the pure rotational spectrum by high resolution Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (FTS). Therefore, the successful completion of the project requires two experimental techniques to be combined: Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy and diode laser spectroscopy. Part of this proposal is also a near infrared study of methane for planetary atmospheres of cold giant planets and hot exoplanets. I propose to use a combination of theory and high-resolution experiments to determine highly accurate line parameters of H2-broadened methane features in the K band. The measurements will focus on a) weaker lines between 4450 and 4700 cm-1, using new spectra at cold temperatures (215 – 296 K) for cold giant planets, and b) stronger lines in the 4300 – 4450 cm-1 using spectra at elevated temperatures (296 – 350 K) for extra-solar planets (e.g. hot-Jupiters). The measured H2-broadened linewidths, pressure-shifts, and temperature dependence exponent coefficients will enable accurate line-by-line calculations for a wide range of temperatures. This study will support analyses of planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres using ground-, and space-based observations (present and future) and will allow the theorists to extend their “global analysis of methane”.