Measurement of high-temperature optical constants of solar-nebula minerals

• Applicant: Dr. Harald Mutschke
• Subject Area: Mineralogy, Petrology and Geochemistry
• Term: from 2010 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 146168690

Models of the solar nebula and of other protoplanetary disks, which aim at linking our knowledge about the early solar system to astronomical observations of nowadays young stellar systems, require among other basic data the optical constants of the solid constituents of such systems. So far, such data exist mainly for room temperature, sometimes also for low temperatures. In this project, we intend to measure the temperature dependence of optical constants and mid-infrared spectra for solar-nebula minerals up to temperatures of 1100 K. In the 3rd funding period we will focus on materials being similar to the original interstellar dust (amorphous magnesium-iron silicates) and having experienced irreversible structural changes by exposure to heat. Based on our experience with the production of such silicates we will investigate the structural changes depending on their iron content and other parameters and will measure the mid-infrared optical properties of the products. The resulting data will extend our internet database of optical constants of astrophysical relevant minerals and solids, by which they will be available for mineralogists and astrophysicists.

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1385: The first 10 Million Years of the Solar System - A Planetary Materials Approach