Laboratory investigation of interstellar molecules

The advent of new far-infrared telescopes equipped with most sensitive receivers, e.g., the HIFI instrument aboard the Herschel satellite, and the airborne telescope SOFIA, have opened a new window for astrophysical observations at terahertz frequencies revealing a complex interstellar chemistry. Detection of interstellar molecules relies on the precise knowledge of spectral line positions from laboratory measurements. In recent years we have studied a number of small pure carbon-chain molecules, highly unsaturated carbon-species, oxides, sulfoxides, and stable organic molecules by means of laboratory spectroscopy. Experimental methods to produce and to study molecules of astrophysical relevance will be presented.