AVS 61st International Symposium & Exhibition
    Actinides and Rare Earths Focus Topic Tuesday Sessions
       Session AC+AS+MI+SA+SS-TuM

Paper AC+AS+MI+SA+SS-TuM12
X-ray Excited Auger Transitions of Pu Compounds

Tuesday, November 11, 2014, 11:40 am, Room 301

Session: Synchrotron Radiation and Laboratory Based Investigations of Actinides and Rare Earths
Presenter: Art Nelson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Authors: A.J. Nelson, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
W.K. Grant, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
J.A. Stanford, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
W.J. Siekhaus, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
W. McLean, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Correspondent: Click to Email
X-ray excited Pu NOO Auger line-shapes were used to characterize differences in the oxidation state of Pu compounds. The Auger line-shapes were combined with the associated chemical shift of the Pu 4f7/2 photoelectron line, which defines the Auger parameter and results in a reliable method for definitively determining oxidation states independent of binding energy calibration. Results show that PuO2, Pu2O3, PuH2.7 and Pu have definitive Auger line-shapes. These data were used to produce a chemical state (Wagner) plot for select plutonium oxides. This Wagner plot allowed us to distinguish between the trivalent hydride and the trivalent oxide, which cannot be differentiated by the Pu 4f7/2 binding energy alone.