With the VMICES project (led by Prof. Dr. Sven Köhler, Faculty II), HsH is continuing its cooperation with Prof. Jean-Hugues Fillion from the Université Sorbonne in France, which began in 2019. The project will be funded for three years (2025-2027) by the German Research Foundation with a grant of 368,288 euros.
Photodesorption from ices has been suggested as a major desorption process explaining the observations of molecules in the cold interstellar medium. The determination of photodesorption yields from ice analogues has been the subject of many studies in the last decade, however, the mechanisms explaining the desorption are still poorly understood. In this collaborative project, the groups at Sorbonne and at Hannover combine and share their respective expertise to shed new insight onto the photodesorption dynamics of ices. We propose a truly novel experimental approach by using the 3D-velocity map imaging (VMI) method for the analysis of the photodesorption from ices (VMICES: velocity map imaging from ices). Irradiation of condensed CO, N2, NO and H2O ices with photons in the range between 7-14 eV (VUV-laser or synchrotron radiation) will lead to desorption of molecules or fragments for which the velocity and angular distributions will be measured for the first time.