Atmospheric Chemistry
Assistant Professor in the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
Offices: Burnside Hall 816 and Otto Maass 425
Tel.: (514) 398-3766
Fax: (514) 398-6115
Website
thomas.preston [at] mcgill.ca (E-mail)
Research interests
Our research group is focused on developing methods for the study of microphysical and chemical processes in atmospheric aerosol particles. Some topics of interest include: hygroscopicity and water transport, efflorescence and deliquescence, oxidative aging, and liquid-liquid phase separation.
The primary experimental method used by our group is optical trapping. This allows aerosols to be studied at the single particle level where physical parameters can then be determined with high precision and accuracy. Elastic and inelastic light scattering measurements from single particles are taken over time and are used to determine size and composition. We are also interested in the modelling of the interaction of electromagnetic radiation with particles as this is necessary for the interpretation of measurements and important for the development of future instrumentation.
In summary, our lab uses single particle spectroscopy and modelling to understand fundamental thermodynamic and kinetic processes in atmospheric aerosols.
Some recent publications
- Moridnejad, A., Preston, T. C., and Krieger, U. K. (2017) Tracking water sorption in glassy aerosol particles using morphology-dependent resonances. Journal of Physical Chemistry A. 121: 8176–8184.
- Preston, T. C., Davies, J. F., and Wilson, K. R. (2017) The frequency-dependent response of single aerosol particles to vapour phase oscillations and its application in measuring diffusion coefficients. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. 19: 3922–3931.
For a complete list of publications, please visit the Preston Group website.