Optical Constants of HNO₃/H₂O and H₂SO₄/HNO₃/H₂O at Low Temperatures in the Infrared Region

The complex index of refraction of liquid HNO₃/H₂O and H₂SO₄/HNO₃/H₂O has been obtained at different temperatures and acid concentrations. FT-IR specular reflectance spectra were obtained for 30, 54, and 64 wt % aqueous HNO₃ and for four different H₂SO₄/HNO₃/H₂O mixtures in the temperature region from 293 to 183 K. The complex index of refraction was obtained from the reflectance spectra with the Kramers−Kronig transformation. The optical constants of the binary and ternary mixtures vary with the acid concentration and the temperature. The results demonstrate that vibrational bands originating from the sulfate species are more sensitive to changes in temperature than the bands originating from vibrations in the nitrate species; only minor changes in the nitrate vibrational bands are observed as the temperature decreases below 248 K.