Structural Investigation of Californium Under Pressure

The high-pressure structural behavior of californium has been studied experimentally and theoretically up to 100 GPa. A valence change from divalent to trivalent forms was observed under modest pressure revealing californium to be the only actinide to exhibit more than one metallic valence at near to ambient conditions as is the case for cerium in the lanthanide series. Three metallic valencies and four different crystallographic phases were observed in californium as a function of pressure. High-pressure techniques, synchrotron radiation, and ab initio electronic structure calculations of total energies were used to investigate the material and to determine the role which californium’s 5f electrons play in influencing these transitions. The crystallographic structures observed are similar to those found in the preceding actinide elements, curium and americium, with the initially localized 5f states becoming completely delocalized under the influence of high pressure.JRC.E.6-Actinide researc