Revealing the first stages of atmospheric nucleation using broadband rotational spectroscopy

Aerosols provide the largest source of uncertainty in climate models. They are formed through a process known as aerosol nucleation which is poorly understood and as such, understanding the first stages of aerosol nucleation would be important to build a bigger picture. Using a combination of broadband rotational spectroscopy and computational methods, the non-covalent interactions present between molecules during the early stages of atmospheric nucleation of various atmospherically relevant molecules will be probed.

Spectra obtained from the broadband rotational spectrometer will be compared to predicted spectra obtained from theoretical rotational constants in order to assign conformations of molecules.