Spectrometer and CCD camera for LUNA2, a luminescence setup for 77-Kelvin molecular ions in vacuo

The aim is to produce high-quality fluorescence spectra of isolated molecular ions in vacuo using the newly constructed LUNA2 instrument in SBN's laboratory. This instrument allows ions to be cooled to low temperature (as low as 77 K), which enables experiments to be done on weakly fluorescent ions in vacuo, such as protein chromophore ions (e.g. that within the green fluorescent protein, GFP) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) ions. Indeed, in molecular astrophysics, laboratory experiments are required to conclusively say that PAH ions are responsible for diffuse interstellar bands. One important PAH candidate that we will study is the perylene cation. This project allows us to install a new spectrometer and CCD camera at LUNA2, which will increase performance significantly.