MOLECULAR UNIVERSE

Expertise in Research and Complementarity
The Leiden team is lead by Dr. S. Schlemmer (SSch), with strong support from Professor E. F. van Dishoeck (EvD). SSch was trained as a physicist in the area of molecular physics, chemical kinetics, reaction dynamics and energy transfer in Göttingen. For his PhD thesis he was awarded the Otto-Hahn medal. During the postdoctoral research in Berkeley in the group of Prof. R. Saykally he worked on the laboratory search of the carriers of the astrophysically relevant unidentified infrared bands and spent some time in Perugia in the group of Prof. P. Cassavecchia. In 1994 he joined the group of D. Gerlich (Chemnitz) as an assistant where he lead the development of several new experimental techniques, e.g. nanoparticle mass spectrometry where the temporal evolution of the mass of a single well localized and isolated, trapped particle can be monitored over very long times with very high precision and the method of laser-induced-reaction (LIR) which is used to obtain spectra of transient molecular ions by detection of products from chemical reactions. In 2001 he completed very successfully his Habilitation and in October 2002 he was appointed for a faculty position at the Leiden observatory. The University of Leiden is one of the leading places in the field of astrophysics and the Leiden observatory is unique in that it combines astrophysicists, laboratory physicists and theoretical chemists in a single group. In the Sackler Laboratory for Astrophysics processes in interstellar ices are simulated which are essential for the interpretation of mid-infrared data. The observatory is embedded in a faculty which has strong ties to physics and chemistry, in particular the interaction with a group specializing in quantum chemical calculations of basic molecular processes. As such the university is equipped with a first-rate library and IT facilities as well as experienced workshops. The Leiden group has been rather active in European collaborative research and benefited from a number of international grants. The team is funded by the Dutch school for astrophysics (NOVA).
Expertise in Training and Knowledge Transfer
A significant number of laboratory astrophysicists have been trained in Leiden as a PhD or post-doc. PhD candidates and post-docs are expected to attend (and contribute to) the programme of research seminars, which include (at least) a seminar every week in chemical physics and astrophysics and the general colloquia (many more seminars are available at the Leiden faculty for biology, computer science, life science and technology, physics, chemistry, astronomy and mathematics. Members of the Leiden group regularly attend and present work at national and international meetings. There is also the expectation that post-docs and PhD candidates play a small role in teaching. Over the past five years, Ssch has supervised 6 PhD students (5M, 1F), of whom 4 have graduated and 2 are current students. He has also supervised several diploma thesis (4M,1F) and 2 post-docs (2M).

Involvement of Key Scientific Staff.

Significant References
1. M. A. Smith, S. Schlemmer, J. von Richthofen, D. Gerlich, HOC + H Isomerization Rate at 25 K: Implications for the Observed [HCO]/[HOC] Ratios in the Interstellar Medium, ApJ Letters, 578, 87 (2002).
2. S. Schlemmer, J. Illemann, S. Wellert, and D. Gerlich, Nondestructive high-resolution and absolute mass determination of single, charged particles in a threedimensional quadrupole trap, J. Appl. Physics 90, 5410 (2001).