Synchrotron-based highest resolution Fourier Transform infrared spectroscopy of naphthalene (C10H8) and indole (C8H7N) and its application to astrophysical problems.

We report a rotationally resolved analysis of the high resolution FTIR spectrum of naphthalene which can be considered as a prototypical molecule for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and a similar analysis for the prototypical heterocyclic aromatic molecule indole. The spectra have been measured using a resolution of 0.0008 cm(-1) (21 MHz) with the new high resolution FTIR prototype spectrometer of the Molecular Kinetics and Spectroscopy Group at ETH Zürich.