Abstract

This talk will introduce a contemporary topic in extraterrestrial materials science, the behavior of surfaces of icy bodies in space environments. The purpose of our investigations is to identify, in the laboratory, physical and chemical processes that can explain, and in some cases predict, astronomical observations. Of all the ices (condensed gases) that have been identified, water ice is the most prominent. It exists mainly in the amorphous phase and is subject to irradiation by stellar photons and ions, cosmic rays, and magnetospheric particles. The first part of the presentation will include a broad view of ices in interstellar grains and icy bodies in the outer solar system seen through telescopes and spacecraft. The second part will focus on new experimental results, their applications, and challenging unsolved problems.

Biography

Raúl Baragiola obtained his doctorate in physics in 1971 from the Instituto Balseiro, in Bariloche, Argentina. He did research at the Argentine Atomic Energy Commission from 1971 to 1983 in physics of atomic collisions, ion implantation of metals and semiconductors, surface physics, and industrial research in microelectronics. In that period he was twice chairman of the Atomic Collisions Division. Professor at the Instituto Balseiro, and held temporary positions at the University of Salford, in England, and the Hahn Meitner Institute in Berlin. In 1983 he started the computer company ALTEC, and served as its CEO until 1987. He was VP of research at computer company Itron from 1986 till 1988. He emigrated to the US in 1988, after accepting a visiting position on surface physics at Rutgers. In 1990 he was hired by the University of Virginia as Director of the Laboartory for Atomic and Surface Phyics, and Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics. In 2002 he was elected Alice and Guy Wilson Professor of Engineering Physics and Materials Science. He has held visiting professorships at Universities in Paris, Madrid, Cosenza (Italy), Cuyo and Litoral (Argentina) and Rio de Janeiro. He received several physics prizes, the Interamerican Prize in Exact Sciences, by the OAS, the Iberdrola Chair at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, and a NASA Achievement Award for the development of Cassini Plasma Spectrometer. He has been elected Fellow of the American Physical Society and of the Institute of Physics (London). Professor Baragiola is the author of about 200 refereed publications and graduated 22 Ph.D students. He currently holds about 2.5 M$ in research grants from NSF, NASA and JPL. His research interests are in the areas of particle and photon collisions with surfaces and space sciences. Specific topics include ion and laser interactions with solids, radiation chemistry, surface physics, physics of ice, physical-chemistry of surfaces of planetary bodies and interstellar grains, and instrumentation for space research. He is a member of the scientific team of NASA’s CASSINI mission, currently exploring Saturn and its environment.