Summer research and distant amino acids

My research this summer was based on terahertz (THz) spectroscopy of molecules in solution.  While my work was not directly relatable to astronomy work at this point, maybe some day it will be as instrument sensitivity goes up.  However, THz spectroscopy in different forms can be used for identification of molecules in space and research towards that took place in the lab along side me.  THz frequency radiation roughly includes light from 300 to 3 micrometers in wavelength (1-100 THz), and it is in this region that many molecules have distinctive absorption bands.  Water first of all has a huge, strong absorption in this region and thus water can be detected by looking at distant objects, checking the spectrum of radiation we receive from them, and comparing it to the known absorption of water.  While this is more planetary science than straight astronomy or astrophysics, it is closer to what I am interested in, academically.  The research that was happening in the Blake lab this summer with me involved taking samples of amino acids and similar interesting compounds, making them with a simple salt known to not absorb in this spectral range, forming a pellet from this mixture using high pressure, then looking at the absorption of THz through it.  The idea here being that if specific absorptions can be identified to uniquely correspond to certain molecules, then this analysis can be applied to radiation from distant objects, with the hope of identifying amino acids in the atmospheres of distant planets.

Just for my own sake, I want to talk briefly about generation of THz frequency waves, and I suppose you get to read along as I do so.  In our lab, the easiest way to generate THz waves is shining our ultrafast pulsed laser on a crystal of ZnTe.  In a simplification of the process, the laser excites electrons in the semiconductor crystal and the consequent motion of these electrons creates THz frequency radiation because of Maxwell's principles.  In other words, I got to play with big, powerful, and very fast (pulses on the order of 10^-14 s) lasers.  My research was essentially doing the same thing except instead of using crystals to generate the THz, we were using solutions of inorganic molecules and trying to detect and interpret terahertz waves given by these samples.

So not exactly related to astronomy, but interesting nonetheless in my opinion.