Elemental Engineering: Epitaxial Uranium Thin Films

Epitaxial films of the well-known alpha orthorhombic structure and an unusual hcp form of uranium have been grown on Nb and Gd buffers, respectively, by sputtering techniques. In a 5000 Å film of -U a chargedensity wave has been observed, and its properties are different from those found in the bulk. The 500 Å hcp-U film has a c/a ratio of 1.901, which is unusually large for the hcp structure. Theoretical calculations show that this hcp form is metastable and predict that it orders magnetically.JRC.E.6-Actinides researc