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COMBINED EPR, NMR, MAGNETIC SUSCEPTIBILITY AND COMPUTATIONAL DETERMINATION OF RARE EARTH HYPERFINE EFFECTS IN CERAMICS.


EMSL Project ID
38510

Abstract

The first successful high-resolution solid-state NMR experiments on plutonium containing ceramics were carried out at EMSL. As these breakthrough experiments are exploited in the radiological NMR facility the transferred hyperfine field effects from 5f electrons must be understood in the spectra of actinide containing natural (contaminated) materials and actinide immobilization media (ceramics). These hyperfine effects can be used in principle to discriminate molecular sites close to actinides through nuclear spin relaxation effects and shifts induced by Fermi contact shifts and the electron-nucleus dipolar coupling. The latter may be used to determine distance information including lattice relaxation effects around dilute actinide nuclei in many materials. Similar multiple unpaired f electrons are present as unpaired 4f electrons in lanthanide rare earth elements. The proof of principle experiments on 4f systems proposed here should provide the background to develop a powerful spectroscopic tool to examine actinide environments in molecular and extended solids with applications in the Geo-BioGeochemistry and Sub-Surface Science theme.

Project Details

Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2009-12-03
End Date
2010-12-05
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Ian Farnan
Institution
University of Cambridge