Les Mardis de la chimie | Nicolas Sisourat (LCPMR) "Iodine chemistry for electric space"

 IODINE CHEMISTRY FOR ELECTRIC SPACE PROPULSION

Nicolas Sisourat

The development of low power electric thrusters is a crucial step to respond to the growing demand for small satellite technology [1-3]. In this context, iodine is a promising candidate to replace the currently used propellants (e.g. xenon), for both technological and economical reasons. However, the physical-chemistry of iodine low-temperature plasma for electric propulsion are not well understood, due to the lack of data on the elementary electronic processes occurring in iodine plasma. Our research aims at providing the first complete model of iodine chemistry plasma for typical conditions encountered in electric thrusters, using a combination of state-of-the-art relativistic electronic structure calculations [4-5], simulations of atomic and molecular collisions [6-10], plasma modeling [11] and advanced experiments [12-13]. In this talk, I will report on our preliminary theoretical and experimental results on the mutual neutralization reaction between I+ and I-, which is a relevant process for the chemistry of iodine plasma.

References
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(Hoboken, NJ: Wiley) (2008).
[3] E. Ahedo
Plasmas for space propulsion
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[4] The DIRAC code for relativistic molecular calculations
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Landau–Zener type surface hopping algorithms
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[9] D. Peláez, H.-D. Meyer
Full-dimensional MCTDH/MGPF study of the ground and lowest lying vibrational states of
the bihydroxide H3O2(-) complex
J. Chem. Phys. 138, 014108 (2013).
[10] F. Gatti et al.
Rotational excitation cross sections of para-H 2 +para-H 2 collisions. A full-dimensional wave-packet propagation study using an exact form of the kinetic energy
J. Chem. Phys. 123, 174311 (2005).
[11] F. Marmuse et al. Proceedings of the IEPC conference (2019).
[12] F. Marmuse et al.
Optical and electrical diagnostics in an iodine plasma
In 36th International Electric Propulsion Conference (2019).
[13] H. T. Schmidt et al.
First storage of ion beams in the Double Electrostatic Ion-Ring Experiment: DESIREE
Rev. Sci. Instrum. 84, 055115 (2013).

Biography: Nicolas Sisourat obtained his Master degree in Physical-Chemistry, with distinction, from Université Pierre et Marie Curie and from Université Paris-Sud in September 2015. He then continued his education as a PhD student at Université Pierre et Marie Curie under the supervision of Prof. Alain Dubois. His PhD work dealt with The theoretical description of electronic dynamics in ion-atom and ion-molecule collisions. After his PhD, Nicolas Sisourat pursued his research carrier in the theoretical chemistry group of Prof. Lorenz S.