The optical constants of atmospheric aerosol particles in the 7.5-12 pm spectral region

Thin films of atmospheric aerosol particles which have been collected by an automatic jet impactor are used to obtain the real and imaginary part of the mean complex refractive index of aerosol particles of various types in the 7.5–12 μm spectral region. A dispersion analysis of the measured ir-spectra of absorption of the particle films is performed. By applying the Lorentz theory of continuous dielectrics to the particle films a mathematical relation between the optical constants of the particle films and those of the aerosol particles themselves is obtained. The resulting complex refractive indices are applied to Mie computations to indicate the importance of scattering and absorbing aerosol particles to the radiative heat transfer in the longwave window of the atmosphere.