Charged defects during alpha-irradiation of actinide oxides as revealed by Raman and luminescence spectroscopy

Abstract We have recently evidenced an original Raman signature of alpha irradiation-induced defects in UO 2 . In this study, we aim to determine whether the same signature also exists in different actinide oxides, namely ThO 2 and PuO 2 . Sintered UO 2 and ThO 2 were initially irradiated with 21 MeV He 2+ ions using a cyclotron device and were subjected to an in situ luminescence experiment followed by Raman analysis. In addition, a PuO 2 sample which had accumulated self-irradiation damage due to alpha particles was investigated only by Raman measurement. Results obtained for the initially white ThO 2 showed that a blue color appeared in the irradiated areas as well as luminescence signals during irradiation. However, Raman spectroscopic analysis showed the absence of Raman signature in ThO 2 . In contrast, the irradiated UO 2 and PuO 2 confirmed the presence of the Raman signature but no luminescence peaks were observed. The proposed mechanism involves electronic defects in ThO 2 , while a coupling between electronic defects and phonons is required to explain the Raman spectra for UO 2 and PuO 2 .