Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII (2017) 1059.pdf SILICON XANES ASSESSMENT OF THE SILICONE OIL CONTENT OF GEMS IN IDPS . G. J. Flynn 1, S. Wirick 2, A. L. Butterworth 3, Z. Gainsforth3, A. J. Westphal 3, B. Kaulich 4, T. Araki 4, M. Abyaneh 4, and T. Ty- liszczak 5. 1Dept. of Physics, SUNY-Plattsburgh, Plattsburgh, NY 12901 USA (
[email protected] ), 2Focused Beam Enterprises, Westhampton, NY 11977, 3Space Sciences Laboratory, University of California, Berke- ley, CA 94720, 4Diamond Light Source, Didcot, Oxfordshire OX11 0DE, UK, 5Advanced Light Source, 6 Cyclotron Rd., Berkeley, CA 94720 Introduction: Glass with Embedded Metal and copy, and Si x-ray absorption near-edge structure Sulfides (GEMS) is a major component in many chon- (XANES) spectroscopy provides a technique to assess dritic porous interplanetary dust particles (CP IDPs). the silicone oil content of GEMS. Barranco et al. [8] Based on the similarity of GEMS to the properties of performed Si-XANES on SiO xCyHz polymeric thin interstellar silicates, inferred from astronomical obser- films having compositions with different C/O atomic vations, Bradley [1] proposed that GEMS are surviv- ratios. They also measured Si-XANES spectra of Si- ing interstellar silicates. The GEMS in CP IDPs have carbide and SiO 2 and found that the energy of the onset been extensively studied over the past two decades. of the Si K absorption edge varied with the composi- Synchrotron-based infrared spectroscopy showed a tion from 1840 eV in SiC to 1844 eV in SiO 2. Because good match between the 10 micron Si-O absorption the Si-C and Si-O bonds absorb at significantly differ- feature of GEMS in CP IDPs and the silicates in two ent energies, Si-XANES is a particularly effective molecular clouds as well as in the regions surrounding technique to assess the ratio of Si-C to Si-O bonding at a T-Tauri star and a post-main sequence M star [2].