Pu Electronic Structure and Photoelectron Spectroscopy

The electronic structure of PuCoGa5, Pu metal, and PuO2 is explored using photoelectron spectroscopy. Ground state electronic properties are inferred from temperature dependent photoemission near the Fermi energy for Pu metal. Angle-resolved photoemission details the energy vs. crystal momentum landscape near the Fermi energy for PuCoGa5 which shows significant dispersion in the quasiparticle peak near the Fermi energy. For the Mott insulators AnO2(An U, Pu) the photoemission results are compared against hybrid functional calculations and the model prediction of a crossover from ionic to covalent bonding is found to be reasonable.