Comment on ‘Resonant inelastic x-ray scattering from U₃O₈ and UN’

Abstract

In a recent manuscript, Lawrence Bright et al (2023 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 35 175501) reported the resonant inelastic x-ray scattering spectra of U3O8, as well as UN. Their goal was to identify electronic multiplets associated with a 5f 1 configuration with ground state 2 F 5 / 2 . Complete active space self-consistent field with spin–orbit coupling (CASSCF-SOC) predicted that 2 F 5 / 2 transitions should be observable at 190 and 328 meV. However, these energies were not accessible in their experiment. They suggested that the recent inelastic neutron scattering results of Miskowiec et al (2021 Phys. Rev. B 103 205101) could have been sensitive to these transitions. Here we show that transitions of this possible origin appear in that dataset near 198, 262, 362, and potentially 448 meV.