Experimental investigation of O₂ diffusion and entrapment in interstellar amorphous solid water

¹ Département de Chimie, Université Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette 91190, France
² Laboratory for Astrophysics, Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, PO Box 9513, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
³ Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, 60 Garden St., Cambridge, MA 02138, USA

^★ Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Received: 1 December 2025
Accepted: 10 January 2026

Abstract

Context. Interstellar ices are mainly composed of amorphous solid water (ASW) containing small amounts of hypervolatiles, such as O₂, whose diffusion-limited reactions play a key role in space chemistry. Although O₂ is an important precursor molecule present during the early stages of ice formation, its surface diffusion in ASW remains poorly constrained.

Aims. In this study, we experimentally investigate the surface diffusion and the entrapment efficiency of O₂ in porous ASW under astrophysically relevant conditions.

Methods. Experiments were conducted in an ultrahigh vacuum chamber and monitored using infrared (IR) spectroscopy and quadrupole mass spectrometry. Diffusion coefficients were extracted through a novel approach applicable to IR-inactive molecules, by fitting the mass spectrometer signal during the isothermal phase with a Fickian model. These coefficients were then used to derive the diffusion energy barrier of O₂ in ASW. Entrapment efficiencies were measured by analyzing the subsequent temperature-programmed desorption phase.

Results. We measured the surface diffusion coefficients at different temperatures (35 K, 40 K, 45 K) and water ice coverages (40 ML, 60 ML, 80 ML), yielding values on the order of 10⁻¹⁶–10⁻¹⁵ cm² s⁻¹. From these values, we derived a diffusion energy barrier of E_diff = 10 ± 3 meV (116 ± 35 K), corresponding to a χ ratio of about 0.1. Entrapment measurements revealed that a residual amount of ~20% of O₂ remains trapped in the ASW matrix at the highest temperatures investigated.

Conclusions. This work demonstrates that the surface diffusion of IR-inactive molecules can be experimentally quantified using mass spectrometry. Our findings show that O₂ exhibits a low diffusion barrier, indicating high mobility in interstellar water ices. Moreover, we suggest these water ices likely retain a residual fraction of hypervolatiles entrapped within their structure.