An optical study of α-UF5 and β-UF5

Abstract The optical absorption spectra of polycrystalline samples of both α- and β-UF 5 have been measured in the range 2700 - 500 nm at 4, 77 and about 293 K using a recording spectrophotometer. It was assumed that the crystal field in both cases was dominated by weak covalent interactions; consevuently crystal-field analyses were developed based on the angular overlap model. Crystal-field parameters consistent with the evperimental data were derived.