An experimental test for effective medium approximations (EMAs)

Aims. The effective medium approximations (EMAs), or the Lorentz–Lorenz, Maxwell-Garnett, and Bruggeman models, largely used to obtain optical properties and porosities of pure and ice mixtures, have been experimentally tested in this work. The efficiency of these approximations has been studied by obtaining the porosity value for carbon dioxide ice grown at low temperatures. An explanation of the behaviour of the experimental results for all temperatures is given. The analysis carried out for CO2 can be applied to other molecules. Methods. An optical laser interference technique was carried out using two laser beams falling on a growing film of ice at different incident angles which allowed us to determine the refractive index and the thickness of the film. The mass deposited is recorded by means of a quartz crystal microbalance. Porosity is determined from its equational definition by using the experimental density previously obtained. Results. From the experimental results of the refractive index and density, porosity values for carbon dioxide ice films grown on a cold surface at different temperatures of deposition have been calculated and compared with the results obtained from the EMA equations, and with recent experimental results. Conclusion. The values of porosity obtained with the EMA models and experimentally, show similar trends. However, theoretical values overestimate the experimental results. We can conclude that using the EMAs to obtain this parameter from an ice mixture must be carefully considered and, if possible, an alternative experimental procedure that allows comparisons to be made should be used.