Experimental development of reflection-absorption spectroscopy: Infrared spectrum of carbon monoxide adsorbed on copper and copper oxide

The reflection-adsorption technique is used to obtain the infrared spectrum of a monolayer or less of carbon monoxide adsorbed on an evaporated copper film. The band is located at 2105 cm⁻¹ and is obtained with a signal-to-noise ratio in the range 5 to 15. In this technique, the infrared beam is multiply reflected between two closely-spaced parallel metal surfaces covered with the adsorbed layer. The CO band is used to investigate the dependence of the signal-to-noise ratio on the spacing of the metal surfaces. The existence of an optimum value of the spacing is demonstrated. The contribution to the absorption band of infrared rays with different angles of incidence is investigated and explained in terms of an optimum number of reflections and its variations with angle of incidence. After the copper surface is progressively exposed to oxygen, a slight shifting of the CO band to 2113 cm⁻¹ is observed. Further exposure gives rise to a new band of adsorbed CO at 2135 cm⁻¹, interpreted as CO adsorbed on copper oxide.