Band-to-band transitions and critical points in the near-infrared to vacuum ultraviolet dielectric functions of single crystal urania and thoria

Alyssa Mock, Christina Dugan, Sean Knight, Rafał Korlacki, J. Matthew Mann, Martin M. Kimani, James C. Petrosky, Peter A. Dowben, Mathias Schubert

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

Band-to-band transition energy parameters for single-crystal actinide samples of uranium oxide and thorium oxide were determined and compared using spectroscopic ellipsometry and critical-point dielectric function analyses. Spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements from the near-infrared to the vacuum ultraviolet spectral region were used to determine the dielectric functions of uranium oxide and thorium oxide. The critical-point structure is similar between UO2 and ThO2 but strongly blue shifted for ThO2. We find bandgap energies of 2.1 eV and 5.4 eV for UO2 and ThO2, respectively.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number211901
JournalApplied Physics Letters
Volume114
Issue number21
DOIs
StatePublished - May 27 2019

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

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