University of Orleans

Title: Measurement of hydroxyl (OH) and nitrate (NO₃) radicals: application to kinetic studies of chemical reactions of atmospheric interest in the laboratory measurements

This thesis topic is supported by ICARE's atmospheric reactivity team, which has numerous facilities at its disposal, including some that are unique in France, such as the HELIOS solar radiation atmospheric simulation chamber. This platform has a large array of cutting-edge instruments, some of which were developed experimentally in the laboratory. Among them are two instruments used to measure hydroxyl radicals (OH) and nitrate radicals (NO₃), which are reactive species that play a key role in atmospheric chemistry. While the instrument for measuring NO₃ radicals has been finalised following collaboration with NOAA (USA), the instrument for measuring OH radicals, developed in collaboration with the IGE laboratory in Grenoble, has yet to be installed on HELIOS. These instruments will be the focus of this thesis through kinetic studies involving these radicals as well as other reactive species, such as Criegee intermediates. One of the ultimate goals of this thesis will be to feed databases for modellers working on different atmospheric chemistry scenarios.

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