The infrared spectrum of HOOH+ trapped in solid neon.

When a Ne:H(2)O(2) mixture is codeposited at 4.3 K with a beam of neon atoms that have been excited in a microwave discharge, three new, photosensitive absorptions appear which can be assigned to the three infrared-active vibrational fundamentals of trans-HOOH(+). When the Ne:H(2)O(2) deposition system is pretreated with the vapors of D(2)O, the product absorptions include new peaks which can be attributed to vibrational fundamentals of trans-HOOD(+) and trans-DOOD(+). Density functional calculations of the vibrational fundamentals of the three hydrogen peroxide cation isotopologues support the proposed assignments. Broad, photosensitive product absorptions also appear near the positions of vibrational transitions of O(3)(-), and may be contributed by a weakly bound complex of that species with H(2)O.