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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2008
Carbonaceous extraterrestrial matter is observed in a wide variety of astrophysical environments. Spectroscopic signatures reveal a large variety of chemical structure illustrating the rich carbon chemistry that occurs in space. In order to produce laboratory analogues of the carbonaceous cosmic dust, a new chemical reactor has been built in the Laboratoire de Photophysique Moléculaire. It is a low pressure flat burner providing flames of premixed hydrocarbon/oxygen gas mixtures, closely following the model system used by the combustion community. In such a device the flame is a one-dimensional chemical reactor offering a broad range of combustion conditions and sampling which allows production of many and various by-products. In the present work, we have studied the effect of ion irradiation (200-400 keV), at the Laboratorio di Astrofisica Sperimentale in Catania, on several samples, ranging from strongly aromatic to strongly aliphatic materials. Infrared and Raman spectra were monitored to follow the evolution of the films under study, and characterize the irradiation process-induced modifications.