The 4.6 micron feature of -SiH groups in silicate dust grains and infrared cometary spectra.
Publication date: 02 May 1999
Authors: Blanco, A. et al.
Journal: Planetary and Space Science
Volume: 47
Issue: 6-7
Page: pp. 781-785
Year: 1999
Copyright: Elsevier Science B.V.
Amorphous silicate dust grains have been produced in the laboratory by means of laser ablation of solid targets in different ambient atmospheres. In this work we show that, if the condensation occurs in the presence of hydrogen, the spectra of silicate grains, together with the characteristic 10 and 20 µm features, exhibit an absorption band around 4.6 µm. Such features, absent in the spectra of the same silicate grains produced in an oxygen atmosphere, may be attributed to a fundamental stretching vibration of -SiH functional groups bound into the grains or on their surface.
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