Evaluating experimental molecular physics studies of radiation damage in DNA*

Abstract

Abstract: The field of Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMP) is a mature field exploring thespectroscopy, excitation, ionisation of atoms and molecules in all three phases.Understanding of the spectroscopy and collisional dynamics of AMP has been fundamental tothe development and application of quantum mechanics and is applied across a broad rangeof disparate disciplines including atmospheric sciences, astrochemistry, combustion andenvironmental science, and in central to core technologies such as semiconductorfabrications, nanotechnology and plasma processing. In recent years the molecular physicsalso started significantly contributing to the area of the radiation damage at molecularlevel and thus cancer therapy improvement through both experimental and theoreticaladvances, developing new damage measurement and analysis techniques. It is therefore worthto summarise and highlight the most prominent findings from the AMP community thatcontribute towards better understanding of the fundamental processes inbiologically-relevant systems as well as to comment on the experimental challenges thatwere met for more complex investigation targets. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]