Actinides and rare earths exhibit many unique and diverse physical, chemical, and magnetic properties resulting in large part from the complexity of their 5f and 4f electronic structure. The Actinide and Rare Earth Sessions focus on the chemistry, physics and materials science of f–electron materials. Emphasis will be placed upon the 4f/5f electronic and magnetic structure, surface science, thin film properties, and applications to energy–related issues. The role of fundamental f–electron science in resolving technical challenges posed by actinide materials will be stressed, particularly with regard to energy applications, including energy generation, novel nuclear fuels, and structural materials. Both basic and applied experimental approaches, including synchrotron–radiation-based and neutron–based investigations, as well as theoretical modeling computational simulations, will be featured, with the aim of explaining the observed behavior in these complex materials. Of particular importance are the issues important to nuclear energy and security, including fuel synthesis, oxidation, corrosion, intermixing, stability in extreme environments, prediction of properties via bench-marked simulations, separation science, and forensics. Specific sessions will be devoted to a continued, focused emphasis on the advances in the theory and measurements of core-level spectroscopies for the study of actinides and rare earths. This Focus Topic will also address advances in chemistry/materials sciences for environmental management and will promote the participation of early career scientists.
AC1+LS+MI: Magnetism, Electron Correlation, and Superconductivity in the Actinides/Rare Earths
- Daniel Gnida, PAN-Wroclaw, Poland
AC2+LS+MI: Chemistry and Physics of the Actinides/Rare Earths
- Santa Jasone-Popova, ORNL, “Novel Preorganized Ligands for Selective and Efficient Separation of f-Elements”
- Karah Knope, Georgetown University, “Impact of Noncovalent
- Interactions on Actinide Structural Chemistry”
AC3+AS+LS: Emerging Topics and Methods in Actinide/Rare Earth Science
- Miles Beaux, LANL, “The Non-Integer Occupancy Ground State Hypothesis”
- Jennifer Matzel, LLNL
AC4+LS+MI: Actinide/Rare Earth Theory
- David Dixon, University of Alabama, “Extending Our Understanding of f-Element Oxidation States Using Computational Chemistry”
- Harry Ramanantoanina, Karlsruher Instituts für Technologie
AC5: Actinides and Rare Earths Poster Session