Reassessing the potential of TlCl for laser cooling experiments via four-component correlated electronic structure calculations

The TlCl molecule has previously been investigated theoretically and proposed as promising candidates for laser cooling searches [X. Yuan et. al. J. Chem. Phys., 149, 094306, 2018]. From these results, the cooling process, which would proceed by transitions between a3Π+0 and X1Σ+0 states, had as potential bottleneck the long lifetime (6.04 μs) of the excited state a3Π+0 , that would prohibit experimentally control the slowing region. Here, we revisit this system by employing four-component Multireference Configuration Interaction (MRCI) calculations and investigate the effect of such approaches on the calculated transition momentsbetween a3Π+0 and a3Π1 excited states of TlCl as well as TlF, the latter serving as a benchmark between theory and experiment. Wherever possible, MRCI results have been cross-validated by, and turned out to be consistent with, four-component equation of motion coupled-cluster (EOM-CC) and polarization propagator (PP) calculations. We find that the results of TlF are very closed to experiment values, while for TlCl thelifetime of the a3Π+0 state is now estimated to be 175 ns, which is much shorter than previous calculations indicated, thus yielding a different, more favorable cooling dynamics. By solving the rate-equation numerically, we provide evidence that TlCl could have cooling properties similar to those of TlF. Our investigations also point to the potential benefits of enhancing the stimulated radiation in optical cycle to improve cooling efficiency.

A Coupled EXAFS-Molecular Dynamics Study on PuO2+ and NpO2+ Hydration: The Importance of Electron Correlation in Force-Field Building

The physicochemical properties of the monovalent actinyl cations, PuO₂⁺ and NpO₂⁺, in water have been studied by means of classical molecular dynamic simulations. A specific set of cation-water intermolecular potentials based on ab initio potential energy surfaces has been built on the basis of the hydrated ion concept. The TIP4P water model was adopted. Given the paramagnetic character of these actinyls, the cation-water interaction energies were computed from highly correlated wave functions using the NEVPT2 method. It is shown that the multideterminantal character of the wave function has a relevant effect on the main distances of the hydrated molecular cations. Several structural, dynamical, and energetic properties of the aqueous solutions have been obtained and analyzed. Structural RDF analysis gives An-O_yl distances of 1.82 and 1.84 Å and An-O(water) distances of 2.51 and 2.53 Å for PuO₂⁺ and NpO₂⁺ in water, respectively. Experimental EXAFS spectra from dilute aqueous solutions of PuO₂⁺ and NpO₂⁺ are revisited and analyzed, assuming tetra- and pentahydration of the actinyl cations. Simulated EXAFS spectra have been computed from the snapshots of the MD simulations. Good agreement with the experimental information available is found. The global analysis leads us to conclude that both PuO₂⁺ and NpO₂⁺ cations in water are stable pentahydrated aqua ions.

Electronic spectra of ytterbium fluoride from relativistic electronic structure calculations

We report an investigation of the low-lying excited states of the YbF molecule-a candidate molecule for experimental measurements of the electron electric dipole moment-with 2-component based multi-reference configuration interaction (MRCI), equation of motion coupled cluster (EOM-CCSD) and the extrapolated intermediate Hamiltonian Fock-space coupled cluster (XIHFS-CCSD). Specifically, we address the question of the nature of these low-lying states in terms of configurations containing filled or partially-filled Yb 4f shells. We show that while it does not appear possible to carry out calculations with both kinds of configurations contained in the same active space, reliable information can be extracted from different sectors of Fock space-that is, by performing electron attachment and detachment IHFS-CCSD and EOM-CCSD calculation on the closed-shell YbF+ and YbF- species, respectively. From these calculations we predict Ω = 1/2, 3/2 states, arising from the 4f13σ26s, 4f145d1/6p1, and 4f135d1σ16s configurations to be able to interact as they appear in the same energy range around the ground-state equilibrium geometry. As these states are generated from different sectors of Fock space, they are almost orthogonal and provide complementary descriptions of parts of the excited state manifold. To obtain a comprehensive picture, we introduce a simple adiabatization model to extract energies of interacting Ω = 1/2, 3/2 states that can be compared to experimental observations.

Plutonium complexes in water: new approach to ab initio modeling

Geometry optimization and the electronic structure calculations of Pu Z+ complexes (Z = 3–6) in water solution have been performed, within the framework of the DMol3 and Relativistic Discrete-Variational (RDV) methods. For the simulation of Pu Z+ molecular environment in aqueous solution we used 22 and 32 water molecules randomly distributed around cation. To model the effect of bulk solvent environment we used COSMO (Conductor-like Screening Model) potential for water (ε = 78.54). The obtained results showed that this approach allows the modeling of water dissociation and the formation of hydrolysis products. Our previously suggested scheme for the calculation of interaction energies between selected fragments of multi-molecular systems provides the quantitative estimation of the interaction strengths between plutonium in various oxidation states and each ligand in the first and second coordination shells in water solution.

Ab Initio Study of Covalency in the Ground versus Core-Excited States and X-ray Absorption Spectra of Actinide Complexes

Relativistic multireference ab initio wave function calculations within the restricted active space (RAS) framework were performed to calculate metal and ligand X-ray absorption (XAS) near-edge spectroscopy (XANES) intensities for the metal M_4,5 edges of [PuO₂(H₂O)₅]²⁺, [An^VIO₂]²⁺ (An = U, Np, Pu), and [AmCl₆]^3- and the Cl K edge of the Am complex. The extent of An(5f)-ligand bonding was determined via natural localized molecular orbital analyses of the relevant spin-orbit coupled multireference states. The calculated spectra are in good agreement with experiments and allow a detailed assignment of the observed spectral features. The XANES M_4,5-edge spectra are representative of the actinide orbital covalency in the probed core-excited states, which may be different from the ground-state covalency. An assignment of ground-state An orbital covalency based on XAS spectra should therefore be made with caution.

Puzzling Lack of Temperature Dependence of the PuO2 Magnetic Susceptibility Explained According to Ab Initio Wave Function Calculations

The electronic structure and the magnetic properties of solid PuO₂ are investigated by wave function theory calculations, using a relativistic complete active space (CAS) approach including spin-orbit coupling. The experimental magnetic susceptibility is well reproduced by calculations for an embedded PuO₈^12- cluster model. The calculations indicate that the surprising lack of temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility χ of solid PuO₂ can be rationalized based on the properties of a single Pu⁴⁺ ion in the cubic ligand field of the surrounding oxygen ions. Below ∼300 K, the only populated state is the nonmagnetic ground state, leading to standard temperature-independent paramagnetism (TIP). Above 300 K, there is an almost perfect cancellation of temperature-dependent contributions to χ that depends delicately on the mixing of ion levels in the electronic states, their relative energies, and the magnetic coupling between them.

Structure, Stability, and Electronic Properties of Dimethyl Sulfoxide and Dimethyl Formammide Clusters Containing Th(4.)

By using accurate density functional theory calculations, we have studied the complexes of Th(4+) with dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO) and dimethyl-formammide (DMF) molecules. These solvents are prototypes for oxygen-donor organic environments in which the oxygen atom is connected to S and C atom, respectively. Extended structural, energetic, and electronic structure analysis has been performed to provide a complete picture of the physical properties at the basis of the interaction of Th(4+) with the two solvents. By using a cluster grow approach, we have found that, very likely, the first solvation shell contains nine molecules in the case of DMSO, while it contains eight molecules for DMF. The theoretical results shown here are in agreement with experimental data taken from the literature.

Theoretical study of the electronic spectra of neutral and cationic NpO and NpO2

The electronic spectra of neutral NpO and NpO2 as well as of their mono- (NpO(+), NpO2(+)) and dications (NpO(2+), NpO2(2+)) were studied using multiconfigurational relativistic quantum chemical calculations at the complete active space self-consistent field/CASPT2 level of theory taking into account spin-orbit coupling. The active space included 16 orbitals: all the 7s, 6d, and 5f orbitals of neptunium together with selected orbitals of oxygen. The vertical excitation energies on the ground state geometries have been computed up to ca. 35,000 cm(-1). The gas-phase electronic spectra were evaluated on the basis of the computed Einstein coefficients at 298 K and 3000 K. The computed vertical transition energies show good agreement with previous condensed-phase results on NpO2(+) and NpO2(2+).

Thiocyanate complexes of uranium in multiple oxidation states: a combined structural, magnetic, spectroscopic, spectroelectrochemical, and theoretical study

A comprehensive study of the complexes A4[U(NCS)8] (A = Cs, Et4N, (n)Bu4N) and A3[UO2(NCS)5] (A = Cs, Et4N) is described, with the crystal structures of [(n)Bu4N]4[U(NCS)8]·2MeCN and Cs3[UO2(NCS)5]·O0.5 reported. The magnetic properties of square antiprismatic Cs4[U(NCS)8] and cubic [Et4N]4[U(NCS)8] have been probed by SQUID magnetometry. The geometry has an important impact on the low-temperature magnetic moments: at 2 K, μeff = 1.21 μB and 0.53 μB, respectively. Electronic absorption and photoluminescence spectra of the uranium(IV) compounds have been measured. The redox chemistry of [Et4N]4[U(NCS)8] has been explored using IR and UV-vis spectroelectrochemical methods. Reversible 1-electron oxidation of one of the coordinated thiocyanate ligands occurs at +0.22 V vs Fc/Fc(+), followed by an irreversible oxidation to form dithiocyanogen (NCS)2 which upon back reduction regenerates thiocyanate anions coordinating to UO2(2+). NBO calculations agree with the experimental spectra, suggesting that the initial electron loss of [U(NCS)8](4-) is delocalized over all NCS(-) ligands. Reduction of the uranyl(VI) complex [Et4N]3[UO2(NCS)5] to uranyl(V) is accompanied by immediate disproportionation and has only been studied by DFT methods. The bonding in [An(NCS)8](4-) (An = Th, U) and [UO2(NCS)5](3-) has been explored by a combination of DFT and QTAIM analysis, and the U-N bonds are predominantly ionic, with the uranyl(V) species more ionic that the uranyl(VI) ion. Additionally, the U(IV)-NCS ion is more ionic than what was found for U(IV)-Cl complexes.

The influence of radioactive decay on actinide magnetic susceptibility measurements obtained using the Evans method

In order to explain the higher magnetic susceptibility of some aquo actinide ions than predicted by Hund's rules, the molar magnetic susceptibilities of two americium isotopes ((241)Am and (243)Am) were measured using the Evans method. The results obtained show a growing change in the magnetic susceptibility with α and also a β(-) activity increase in solution. β(-) particle effects appear to be stronger than radicals formed by α particles on the experimental values. The temperature dependence of Am(iii) magnetic susceptibility has been observed but from experiments carried out here, it appears to be difficult to prove whether this effect arises from radicals or β(-). Finally, magnetic susceptibilities of americium recorded in different media (HClO4, HCl, and HNO3) have been compared to alpha and beta emissions' impact.