A laboratory study of meteor smoke analogues: Composition, optical properties and growth kinetics

Meteoric smoke forms in the mesosphere from the recondensation of the metallic species and silica produced by meteoric ablation. A photochemical flow reactor was used to generate meteoric smoke mimics using appropriate photolytic precursors of Fe and Si atoms in an excess of oxidant. The following systems were studied: (i) Fe+O3/O2, (ii) Fe+O3/O2+H2O, (iii) Fe+Si/SiO+O3/O2 and (iv) Si/SiO+O3/O2. The resulting nano-particles were captured for imaging by transmission electron microscopy, combined with elemental analysis using X-ray (EDX) and electron energy loss (EELS) techniques. These systems generated particle compositions consistent with: (i) Fe2O3 (hematite), (ii) FeOOH (goethite), (iii) Fe2SiO4 (fayalite) and (iv) SiO2 (silica). Electron diffraction revealed that the Fe-containing particles were entirely amorphous, while the SiO2 particles displayed some degree of crystallinity. The Fe-containing particles formed fractal aggregates with chain-like morphologies, whereas the SiO2 particles were predominantly spherical and compact in appearance. The optical extinction spectra of the Fe-containing particles were measured from 300 nm<λ