Maria Elisabetta Palumbo has been working in the Laboratory for Experimental Astrophysics, at the Astrophysical Observatory of Catania, since April 1991.
In 1992, she graduated in Physics (Astrophysics option) at the University of Catania and in 1995 she concluded the PhD course in Physics. She works at the Astrophysical Observatory of Catania as staff member since July 1995.
In her research activity, she has studied experimentally, by infrared absorption spectroscopy and by Raman spectroscopy, the effects of fast ions (3-400 keV) impinging on frozen gases (ices) at low temperature (10-100 K). This is an interdisciplinary study relevant to our understanding of the physical and chemical properties of ices in the interstellar medium and outer Solar System objects including comets. In particular she has studied the role of ion irradiation in the evolution of icy grain mantles and in the formation of molecules observed in dense interstellar molecular clouds.
The main results she obtained focus on solid carbon monoxide and carbonyl sulfide, on the origin of carbon dioxide in interstellar icy grain mantles and on the structure of solid water.
She is author of more than 60 articles published on refereed international journals.
