  Aims. This article aims to provide an alternative method of measuring the
porosity of multi-phase composite ices from their refractive indices and of
characterising how the abundance of a premixed contaminant (e.g., CO2) affects
the porosity of water-rich ice mixtures during omni-directional deposition.
Methods. We combine optical laser interference and extended effective medium
approximations (EMAs) to measure the porosity of three astrophysically relevant
ice mixtures: H2O:CO2=10:1, 4:1, and 2:1. Infrared spectroscopy is used as a
benchmarking test of this new laboratory-based method. Results. By
independently monitoring the O-H dangling modes of the different water-rich ice
mixtures, we confirm the porosities predicted by the extended EMAs. We also
demonstrate that CO2 premixed with water in the gas phase does not
significantly affect the ice morphology during omni-directional deposition, as
long as the physical conditions favourable to segregation are not reached. We
propose a mechanism in which CO2 molecules diffuse on the surface of the
growing ice sample prior to being incorporated into the bulk and then fill the
pores partly or completely, depending on the relative abundance and the growth
temperature.
