Available for Licensing: High-Quality Actinide Thin Films via Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Quantum and Optoelectronic Devices

High-Quality Actinide Thin Films via Molecular Beam Epitaxy for Quantum and Optoelectronic Devices Description Researchers at INL have developed a process to deposit high-quality epitaxial crystalline thin films of uranium and thorium, as well as their nitrides, using molecular beam epitaxy (MBE). MBE is a non-equilibrium vacuum deposition technique that provides precise control over the composition and interfaces of the material, making it ideal for fabricating high-purity, defect-free, single-crystalline thin films. Actinide thin films, particularly those of uranium and thorium, present significant challenges for ab initio modeling due to their complex electron correlations. High-quality samples are essential for providing feedback to develop accurate models. Additionally, the strong ele