OPTICAL CONSTANTS OF SULFURIC ACID
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Date
1974
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Ohio State University
Abstract
On the basis of scattering measurements and humidity measurements above the main cloud deck, Young$^{1}$ and Still$^{2}$ have independently suggested that the clouds of Venus are composed, in large part, of sulfuric acid drop-lets. The scattering of solar Infrared radiation by the Venus clouds can be calculated from Mie theory provided that the optical constants$_{N}$= n + ik of sulfuric acid are known. We have determined these constants for sulfuric acid solutions having concentrations of 95.6, 34.5,75,50,38, and 25 percent by weight. Our determinations are based on absolute measurements of reflectance at near-normal incidence and on measured values of the Lambert absorption coefficient. We shall show cvrves giving n(v) - vs - v in the spectral range 350 to 27 800 $cm^{-1}$ and curves giving k(v) - vs - v in the range 350 to 14 000 $cm^{-1}$. Our laboratory results will be compared with the values obtained by Remsberg$^{3}$ from ATR measurements in the range 750 - 1150 $cm^{-1}$ and with the infrared spectrum of Venus as obtained from ground-based observations$^{4}$ and from an observatory on the NASA-Ames operated Lear jet $aircraft.^{5}$ This research was supported, in part, by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
Description
$^{1}$A. Young, Icarus 13, 564 (1973). $^{2}$ Father Sill, Report from Planetary Sciences Institute, Arizona. $^{3}$E. E. Remsberg, J, Geophys. Res. 78, 1401 (1973). $^{4}$F. C. Gillett, J, Atmos, Sci, 25, 594 (1968). $^{5}$J. B. Pollack, Private Communication.
Author Institution: Department of Physics, Kansas State University
Author Institution: Department of Physics, Kansas State University