Laser mass spectrometric detection of extraterrestrial aromatic molecules: mini-review and examination of pulsed heating effects.

Abstract

Laser mass spectrometry is a powerful tool for the sensitive, selective, and spatially resolved analysis of organic compounds in extraterrestrial materials. Using microprobe two-step laser mass spectrometry (muL(2)MS), we have explored the organic composition of many different exogenous materials, including meteorites, interplanetary dust particles, and interstellar ice analogs, gaining significant insight into the nature of extraterrestrial materials. Recently, we applied muL(2)MS to analyze the effect of heating caused by hypervelocity particle capture in aerogel, which was used on the NASA Stardust Mission to capture comet particles. We show that this material exhibits complex organic molecules upon sudden heating. Similar pulsed heating of carbonaceous materials is shown to produce an artifactual fullerene signal. We review the use of muL(2)MS to investigate extraterrestrial materials, and we discuss its recent application to characterize the effect of pulsed heating on samples of interest.