FUV Photoionization of Titan atmospheric aerosols

TL;DR

This study investigates FUV photoionization of Titan-like aerosols, revealing low ionization thresholds and high cross sections, which significantly impact atmospheric chemistry models.

Contribution

It provides experimental ARPES data on Titan aerosol analogs, quantifying their photoemission properties crucial for atmospheric modeling.

Findings

Low photoionization threshold of 6.0 eV

High absolute ionization cross sections (~10^6 Mb)

FUV photoemission as a significant source of slow electrons

Abstract

Thanks to the Cassini Huygens mission, it is now established that the first aerosols in Titan s upper atmosphere are found from an altitude of about 1200 km. Once they are formed and through their descent towards the surface, these nanoparticles are submitted to persistent Far Ultra-Violet (FUV) radiation that can reach lower atmospheric layers. Such an interaction has an impact, especially on the chemistry and charge budget of the atmospheric compounds. Models are useful to understand this photoprocessing, but they lack important input data such as the photoemission threshold or the absolute photoabsorption/emission cross sections of the aerosols. In order to quantify the photoemission processes, analogs of Titan s aerosols have been studied with the DESIRS FUV beamline at the synchrotron SOLEIL as isolated substrate-free nanoparticles. We present here the corresponding ARPES (Angle-Resolved PhotoElectron Spectroscopy) data recorded at different FUV photon energies. The results show a very low photoionization threshold (6.0 +/- 0.1 eV~ 207 nm) and very high absolute ionization cross sections (~106 Mb) indicating that FUV photoemission from aerosols is an intense source of slow electrons which has to be taken into account in photochemical models of Titan s atmosphere.