Non-resonant inelastic x ray scattering (NIXS) experiments have been performed to probe the 5d-5f electronic transitions at the uranium O(4,5) absorption edges in uranium dioxide. For small values of the scattering vector q, the spectra are dominated by dipole-allowed transitions encapsulated within the giant resonance, whereas for higher values of q the multipolar transitions of rank 3 and 5 give rise to strong and well-defined multiplet structure in the pre-edge region. The origin of the observed non-dipole multiplet structures is explained on the basis of many-electron atomic spectral calculations. The results obtained demonstrate the high potential of NIXS as a bulk-sensitive technique for the characterization of the electronic properties of actinide materials.
@article{arxiv.1002.0240,
title = {5d-5f Electric-multipole Transitions in Uranium Dioxide Probed by Non-resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering},
author = {R. Caciuffo and G. van der Laan and L. Simonelli and T. Vitova and C. Mazzoli and M. A. Denecke and G. H. Lander},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1002.0240},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Submitted to Physical Review Letters on 31 December 2009