Phase and morphology of water-ice grains formed in a cryogenic laboratory plasma

TL;DR

This study investigates the formation, structure, and composition of water-ice grains in a cryogenic plasma, revealing fractal morphologies, mixed crystalline and amorphous phases, and implications for astrophysical ices.

Contribution

It provides new insights into ice nucleation mechanisms in plasma environments and characterizes the morphology and phase composition of ice grains formed under cryogenic laboratory conditions.

Findings

Ice grains have spindle-like fractal structures.

Both crystalline and amorphous ice phases coexist.

Ice nucleation is likely catalyzed by ions in plasma.

Abstract

Grains of ice are formed spontaneously when water vapor is injected into a weakly-ionized laboratory plasma in which the background gas has been cooled to cryogenic temperatures comparable to those of deep space. These ice grains are levitated indefinitely within the plasma so that their time evolution can be observed under free-floating conditions. Using microscope imaging, ice grains are shown to have a spindle-like fractal structure and grow over time. Both crystalline and amorphous phases of ice are observed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. A mix of crystalline and amorphous grains coexist under certain thermal conditions and a linear mixing model is used on the ice absorption band surrounding 3.2 microns to examine the ice phase composition and its temporal stability. The extinction spectrum is also affected by inelastic scattering as grains grow, and characteristic grain radii are obtained from Mie scattering theory and compared to size measurements from direct imaging. Observations are used to compare possible ice nucleation mechanisms, and it is concluded that nucleation is likely catalyzed by ions, as ice does not nucleate in absence of plasma and impurities are not detected. Ice grain properties and infrared extinction spectra show similarity to observations of some astrophysical ices observed in protoplanetary disks, implying that the fractal morphology of the ice and observed processes of homogeneous ice nucleation could occur as well in such astrophysical environments with weakly-ionized conditions.