Interpretation of resonant photoemission spectra of solid actinide systems

It is shown that valence-band photoemission (PE) spectra of epitaxial hcp films of U metal may be understood within a one-step model of PE based on an itinerant description of the U 5f states. Particularly, the PE intensities of the f-derived bands are correctly reproduced for photon energies between 60 and 103 eV. It is found that a cross-section minimum of the Fermi-energy feature at h(nu) = 90-94 eV, which previously was assigned to a Fano antiresonance at the 5d-->5f excitation threshold, is mainly caused by a Cooper minimum. Analogous 5f cross-section variations in the region of the 5d-->5f resonances were obtained for UPd3 and Pu metal.