In this era of spatially resolved observations of planet-forming disks with Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) and large ground-based telescopes such as the Very Large Telescope (VLT), Keck, and Subaru, we still lack statistically relevant information on the quantity and composition of the material that is building the planets, such as the total disk gas mass, the ice content of dust, and the state of water in planetesimals. SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (SPICA) is an infrared space mission concept developed jointly by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and European Space Agency (ESA) to address these questions. The key unique capabilities of SPICA that enable this research are (1) the wide spectral coverage $10{-}220\,\mu\mathrm{m}$ , (2) the high line detection sensitivity of $(1{-}2) \times 10^{-19}\,\mathrm{W\,m}^{-2}$ with $R \sim 2\,000{-}5\,000$ in the far-IR (SAFARI), and $10^{-20}\,\mathrm{W\,m}^{-2}$ with $R \sim 29\,000$ in the mid-IR (SPICA Mid-infrared Instrument (SMI), spectrally resolving line profiles), (3) the high far-IR continuum sensitivity of 0.45 mJy (SAFARI), and (4) the observing efficiency for point source surveys. This paper details how mid- to far-IR infrared spectra will be unique in measuring the gas masses and water/ice content of disks and how these quantities evolve during the planet-forming period. These observations will clarify the crucial transition when disks exhaust their primordial gas and further planet formation requires secondary gas produced from planetesimals. The high spectral resolution mid-IR is also unique for determining the location of the snowline dividing the rocky and icy mass reservoirs within the disk and how the divide evolves during the build-up of planetary systems. Infrared spectroscopy (mid- to far-IR) of key solid-state bands is crucial for assessing whether extensive radial mixing, which is part of our Solar System history, is a general process occurring in most planetary systems and whether extrasolar planetesimals are similar to our Solar System comets/asteroids. We demonstrate that the SPICA mission concept would allow us to achieve the above ambitious science goals through large surveys of several hundred disks within $\sim\!2.5$ months of observing time.

Episodic accretion is an important process in the evolution of young stars and their surroundings. A consequence of an episodic accretion event is a luminosity burst, which heats the protostellar environment and has a long lasting impact on the chemical evolution of the disk and envelope of young stars. We present a new model for the chemistry of episodic accretion based on the 2D radiation thermo-chemical disk code ProDiMo. We discuss the impact of an episodic accretion burst on the chemical evolution of CO and its observables. Furthermore we present a model for the outbursting source V883 Ori where we fitted available observational data to get an accurate physical structure that allows for a detailed study of the chemistry.

HD 163296 is a young star surrounded by a planet-forming disk that shows clear signatures of dust gaps and rings; likely an indication of ongoing planet formation. We use the radiation thermochemical disk code ProDiMo to investigate the impact of dust/gas gaps on the temperature, chemistry and observables. Furthermore, we model high spatial resolution gas and dust observation of HD 163296 (ALMA/DSHARP). Our first results indicate that features in the observed radial intensity profile of the 12CO line are a consequence of the dust gaps and do not require gas depletion. Those preliminary results indicate that self-consistent modelling of the gas (chemistry, heating/cooling) and dust is necessary to accurately infer the degree of gas depletion within dust gaps. Such information is crucial to understand the processes that generate the disk substructure and their relation to planet formation.

Measurements in the infrared wavelength domain allow direct assessment of the physical state and energy balance of cool matter in space, enabling the detailed study of the processes that govern the formation and evolution of stars and planetary systems in galaxies over cosmic time. Previous infrared missions revealed a great deal about the obscured Universe, but were hampered by limited sensitivity.

SPICA takes the next step in infrared observational capability by combining a large 2.5-meter diameter telescope, cooled to below 8 K, with instruments employing ultra-sensitive detectors. A combination of passive cooling and mechanical coolers will be used to cool both the telescope and the instruments. With mechanical coolers the mission lifetime is not limited by the supply of cryogen. With the combination of low telescope background and instruments with state-of-the-art detectors SPICA provides a huge advance on the capabilities of previous missions.

SPICA instruments offer spectral resolving power ranging from R ~50 through 11 000 in the 17–230 μm domain and R ~28.000 spectroscopy between 12 and 18 μm. SPICA will provide efficient 30–37 μm broad band mapping, and small field spectroscopic and polarimetric imaging at 100, 200 and 350 μm. SPICA will provide infrared spectroscopy with an unprecedented sensitivity of ~5 × 10−20 W m−2 (5σ/1 h)—over two orders of magnitude improvement over what earlier missions. This exceptional performance leap, will open entirely new domains in infrared astronomy; galaxy evolution and metal production over cosmic time, dust formation and evolution from very early epochs onwards, the formation history of planetary systems.

Anomalies in the abundance measurements of short lived radionuclides in meteorites indicate that the protosolar nebulae was irradiated by a large number of energetic particles (E≳ 10 MeV), often called solar cosmic rays. The particle flux of the contemporary Sun cannot explain these anomalies, but, similar to T Tauri stars, the young Sun was more active and probably produced enough high energy particles. However, the stellar particle (SP) flux of young stars is essentially unknown. We model the impact of high-energy ionization sources on the chemistry of the circumstellar environment (disks and envelopes). The model includes X-ray radiative transfer and makes use of particle transport models to calculate the individual molecular hydrogen ionization rates. We study the impact on the chemistry via the ionization tracers HCO+ and N2H+. We argue that spatially resolved observations of those molecules combined with detailed models allow for disentangling the contribution of the individual high-energy ionization sources and to put constraints on the SP flux in young stars.

High spatial resolution observations with ALMA and VLT/SPHERE show gaps and rings in continuum emission of protoplanetary disks, possibly indicating ongoing planet formation. However, it is still unclear if the gas follows the dust distribution. We present radiation thermo-chemical models for the disk of HD 163296 to study the impact of dust and gas gaps on the chemistry and molecular line emission. We compare a model with only dust gaps to a model that also has gas gaps. In both models, rings and gaps are visible in (sub)mm molecular line emission. Due to chemistry, certain molecules are sensitive to dust gaps where others are more sensitive to gas depletion. Observations of multiple molecules might allow to accurately determine the degree of gas depletion within the dust gaps, information crucial to discriminate between gap formation theories (e.g. planets, ice lines).

We present a new determination of the solar nitrogen abundance making use of 3D hydrodynamical modelling of the solar photosphere, which is more physically motivated than traditional static 1D models. We selected suitable atomic spectral lines, relying on equivalent width measurements already existing in the literature. For atmospheric modelling we used the co5bold 3D radiation hydrodynamics code. We investigated the influence of both deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium (non-LTE effects) and photospheric inhomogeneities (granulation effects) on the resulting abundance. We also compared several atlases of solar flux and centre-disc intensity presently available. As a result of our analysis, the photospheric solar nitrogen abundance is A(N) = 7.86 ± 0.12.

Depending on whom you ask, PAHs are either the smallest dust particles or the largest gas-phase molecules in space. Whether referred to as gas or dust, these PAHs can contain up to20% of the total cosmic carbon abundance and as such also play an important role in the carbon chemistry of protoplanetary disks. The interpretation of PAH bands is often a complex procedure involving not only gas physics to determine their ionization stage and temperature, but also radiative transfer effects that can bury these bands in a strong thermal continuum from a population of larger dust particles.

PAHs are most readily seen in the spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of disks around Herbig AeBe stars where they are photoprocessed by the stellar radiation field. Resolved images taken in the PAH bands confirm their origin in the flaring surfaces of circumstellar disks: if the SED is consistent with a flat disk structure (less illuminated), there is little or no evidence of PAH emission. The very low detection rates in the disks around T Tauri stars often require an overall lower abundance of PAHs in these disk surface as compared to that in molecular clouds.

In this review, I will adress three aspects of PAHs in protoplanetary disks: (1) Do PAHs form in protoplanetary disks or do they originate from the precursor molecular cloud? (2) Is the presence of PAH features in SEDs a consequence of the disk structure or do PAHs in fact shape the disk structure? (3) How can we use PAHs as tracers of processes in protoplanetary disks?

In NLTE computations of trace elements in stellar atmospheres, background opacities are generally treated in LTE. It is thus important to assess the impact of different methods of including this background opacity on the statistical equilibrium of the trace element and its resulting NLTE abundance. This article illustrates these effects using two examples, nitrogen in Vega and carbon in the Sun.

A-type stars with their shallow convection zones serve as ideal physics laboratories for stellar atmosphere research. In the absence of large scale mixing, processes such as diffusion, mass loss and accretion leave their characteristic imprint on the chemical composition of the photosphere. This characteristic surface pattern can be studied by means of stellar abundance analysis. However, such patterns can be hidden in the large uncertainties of LTE abundances. Thus, detailed NLTE studies that can push stellar abundance analysis beyond the 0.1 dex uncertainty limit are a pre-requisite for using A star atmospheres as physics laboratories.

Making use of the polar nature of III-nitride heterostructures, a new FET device concept is proposed. The structure contains an InGaN QW channel sandwiched in between two GaN barrier layers. The charge inthis structure is mainly generated by the strain field in the InGaN layer and is an electron/hole dipole sheet charge located at the opposite InGaN/GaN interfaces. To obtain nchannel characteristics the hole charge at the rear interface (for Ga-face oriented material) is compensated by donor doping of the channel or by modulation doping from the real GaN barrier layer. Growth, processing technology and characteristics of first fabricated devices is discussed.

Epitaxial growth on GaN single bulk crystals sets new standards in GaN material quality. The outstanding properties provide new insights into fundamental material parameters (e.g. lattice constants, exciton binding energies, etc.) being not accessible by heteroepitaxial growth on sapphire or SiC. With MOVPE and MBE we realized unstrained GaN layers with dislocation densities about six orders of magnitude lower than in heteroepitaxy. Those layers revealed an exceptional optical quality as determined by a reduction of the photoluminescence linewidth from 5 to 0.1 meV and a reduced XRD rocking curve width from 400 to 20 arcsec.

Only recently, progress in surface preparation allowed morphologies of the layers suitable for device applications. We report on InGaN/GaN MQW structures as well as the first GaN pn- and InGaN/GaN double heterostructure LEDs on GaN single bulk crystals. Those LEDs are twice as bright as their counterparts grown on sapphire. In addition they reveal an improved high power characteristics, which is attributed to an enhanced crystal quality and an increased p-doping. Time resolved electroluminescence measurements proof that band/band recombination is the dominant emission mechanism for the InGaN/GaN LEDs.

Epitaxial growth on GaN single bulk crystals sets new standards in GaN material quality. The outstanding properties provide new insights into fundamental material parameters (e.g. lattice constants, exciton binding energies, etc.) being not accessible by heteroepitaxial growth on sapphire or SiC. With MOVPE and MBE we realized unstrained GaN layers with dislocation densities about six orders of magnitude lower than in heteroepitaxy. Those layers revealed an exceptional optical quality as determined by a reduction of the photoluminescence linewidth from 5 to 0.1 meV and a reduced XRD rocking curve width from 400 to 20 arcsec.

Only recently, progress in surface preparation allowed morphologies of the layers suitable for device applications. We report on InGaN/GaN MQW structures as well as the first GaN pn- and InGaN/GaN double heterostructure LEDs on GaN single bulk crystals. Those LEDs are twice as bright as their counterparts grown on sapphire. In addition they reveal an improved high power characteristics, which is attributed to an enhanced crystal quality and an increased p-doping. Time resolved electroluminescence measurements proof that band/band recombination is the dominant emission mechanism for the InGaN/GaN LEDs.

GaN epitaxial layers on GaN single crystals were grown using molecular beam epitaxy with an NH3 source. The deposited layers were examined by high resolution x-ray diffraction and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy. We observed strong and extremely narrow (half-widths of 0.5 meV) lines related to the bound excitons. In the higher energy range we observed three strong lines. Two of them are commonly attributed to free exciton transitions A (3.4785 eV) and B (3.483 eV). Their energetic positions are characteristic of strain-free GaN material.