Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 February 2013
Carbonaceous cosmic dust is mainly observed through infrared spectroscopy either in absorption or in emission. Laboratory soot analogues of this interstellar or circumstellar dust were produced in fuel-rich, low-pressure, premixed and flat, flames. The particles were investigated by infrared absorption spectroscopy in the 2–15 μm spectral region. The details of the spectral features shed some light on the structure of the material and enable the study of its life cycle. In particular, the 8 μm band position is tentatively attributed to defects at the edge or in the polyaromatic units of the materials, revealing these structural changes in astrophysical dust.