15min:

MARILYN E. JACOX AND WARREN E. THOMPSON, Optical Technology Division, National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8441.

A sufficient concentration of NO₃ trapped in solid neon has been produced for detection of all of its previously reported infrared bands between 700 and 2600 cm^-1 , most of which lie within 2.5 cm^-1 of the gas-phase band origins. Analysis of the infrared spectra obtained for isotopologues of NO₃ which contain nitrogen-15 and/or oxygen-18 is consistent with a planar, threefold symmetric structure for the ground-state molecule and provides information supporting the occurrence of extensive mixing of ground-state vibrational levels of E' symmetry and vibronic interaction with the B ²E' excited electronic state.