Thin Film Ices

Knowledge of vapor pressures as a function of temperature is crucial for modeling processes such as seasonal migration of planetary volatiles, loss of volatiles from planetesimals, cometary gas production, and compositional evolution of gas and solids in protoplanetary nebulae.  Using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), the sublimation and deposition rates of volatile species of interest can be recorded and then used to determine their vapor pressures. Results are then compared to values that were reported by Fray & Schmitt (2009).