1. Quantifying the U $5f$ covalence and degree of localization in U intermetallics
- Author
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Marino, Andrea, Christovam, Denise S., Takegami, Daisuke, Falke, Johannes, Carvalho, Miguel M. F., Okauchi, Takaki, Chang, Chun-Fu, Altendorf, Simone G., Amorese, Andrea, Sundermann, Martin, Gloskovskii, Andrei, Gretarsson, Hlynur, Keimer, Bernhard, Andreev, Alexandr V., Havela, Ladislav, Leithe-Jasper, Andreas, Severing, Andrea, Kunes, Jan, Tjeng, Liu Hao, and Hariki, Atsushi
- Subjects
Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons - Abstract
A procedure for quantifying the U $5f$ electrons' covalence and degree of localization in U intermetallic compounds is presented. To this end, bulk sensitive hard and soft x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy were utilized in combination with density-functional theory (DFT) plus dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT) calculations. The energy dependence of the photoionization cross-sections allows the disentanglement of the U\,$5f$ contribution to the valence band from the various other atomic subshells so that the computational parameters in the DFT\,+\,DMFT can be reliably determined. Applying this method to UGa$_2$ and UB$_2$ as model compounds from opposite ends of the (de)localization range, we have achieved excellent simulations of the valence band and core-level spectra. The width in the distribution of atomic U\,$5f$ configurations contributing to the ground state, as obtained from the calculations, quantifies the correlated nature and degree of localization of the U\,5$f$. The findings permit answering the longstanding question why different spectroscopic techniques give seemingly different numbers for the U 5$f$ valence in intermetallic U compounds., Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures
- Published
- 2024
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