Localized and Itinerant States in Actinide Materials

Conference · Sun Jul 01 04:00:00 EDT 2007

OSTI ID:21083695

Joyce, J J; Durakiewicz, T; Graham, K S ^[1]; Olson, C G ^[2]; Guziewicz, E ^[3]; Moore, D P; Morales, L A ^[4]

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1. Condensed Matter and Thermal Physics group, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (United States)
2. Iowa State University/Ames Laboratory, Ames, Iowa 50011 (United States)
3. Institute of Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-668 Warsaw (Poland)
4. Materials Science and Technology Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico (United States)

The electronic structure of single crystal UO{sub 2} and polycrystalline delta-Pu is examined using photoelectron spectroscopy. These two actinide materials exhibit properties consistent with the 5f electrons at the threshold between localized and itinerant character. The results for delta-Pu may be viewed as the 5f electrons exhibiting a dual nature with some fraction of the 5f levels localized and not participating in the bonding while the other fraction of 5f character is involved in bonding and hybridization with the conduction electrons. For UO{sub 2} where angle-resolved photoemission is available, one observes dispersion in the 5f features indicative of the 5f electrons being influenced by the periodic potential of the lattice rather than purely influenced by the site to which the 5f electrons are generally localized. (authors)

• Research Organization: Materials Research Society, 506 Keystone Drive, Warrendale, PA, 15086-7573 (United States)
• OSTI ID: 21083695
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE
ELECTRONS
MONOCRYSTALS
PHOTOELECTRON SPECTROSCOPY
PHOTOEMISSION
PLUTONIUM-DELTA
POLYCRYSTALS
URANIUM DIOXIDE