Fine electronic structure and 5f-electron localized-itinerant transition in uranium films

doi:10.1088/1674-1056/ae101a

Abstract Uranium, the heaviest natural element, exhibits rich and complex physical behavior, including three types of charge density wave transitions and superconductivity at low temperatures. It is widely believed that these phenomena are closely linked to the properties of 5f electrons, which are highly susceptible to external perturbations. To elucidate the detailed electronic structure, particularly the 5f electron signatures, we fabricated high-quality single-crystal uranium films on W (110) substrates using molecular beam epitaxy and investigated their fine electronic properties and temperature-dependent evolution by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). Our experiments reveal three electron pockets around the $\varGamma $ point and direct hybridization between 5f electrons and conduction electrons at regions distant from $\varGamma $. The Kondo temperature extracted from ARPES and electrical resistance measurements is approximately 131 K, indicating that the 5f electrons transition from a high-temperature localized state to a low-temperature itinerant state in the thin film system. Additionally, we observe another flat band with an energy scale of 148 meV. The detailed electronic structure and direct evidence of the localized-to-itinerant transition of 5f electrons provided in this study advance the understanding of strong electronic correlations in uranium-based materials.

Keywords: uranium c-f hybridization Kondo physics

Received: 18 July 2025
Revised: 08 September 2025
Accepted manuscript online: 07 October 2025

PACS:	71.27.+a	(Strongly correlated electron systems; heavy fermions)
	73.20.At	(Surface states, band structure, electron density of states)
	79.60.-i	(Photoemission and photoelectron spectra)

Fund: Project supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant Nos. 2021YFA1601101 and 2022YFA1402201), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52394161 and U2430209), Sichuan Science & Technology Program (Grant No. 2025ZNSFSC0869), and the Institute of Materials (Grant No. TP02202408).

Corresponding Authors: Qunqing Hao, Shiyong Tan
E-mail: qunqinghao@163.com;sytan4444@163.com

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Yun Zhang(张云), Jian Wu(吴健), Ying Jiang(蒋颖), Qiuyun Chen(陈秋云), Wei Feng(冯卫), Xiangfei Yang(杨向飞), Qin Liu(刘琴), Xiegang Zhu(朱燮刚), Dengpeng Yuan(袁登鹏), Qiang Zhang(张强), Xinchun Lai(赖新春), Qunqing Hao(郝群庆), and Shiyong Tan(谭世勇) Fine electronic structure and 5f-electron localized-itinerant transition in uranium films 2026 Chin. Phys. B 35 047102

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Fine electronic structure and 5f-electron localized-itinerant transition in uranium films

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