Plutonium Dedicated Surface Probe Microscopy Capability

Abstract

An atomic force microscope (AFM) equipped with gas dosing capabilities and a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) housed within a vacuum chamber with Pu sputtering capabilities and the potential for rapid heating via electron bombardment have been devised for investigations of Pu surface aging (such as oxidation, corrosion, and self-irradiation damage), reactivity, and rapid heating. These instruments are capable of probing Pu surface areas ranging from a fractions of nm2 (STM) to hundreds of μm2 (AFM) to obtain three dimensional imaging of surface microstructure and morphology, as well as mapping of the local electronic structure (i.e., the occupied and unoccupied electronic states), surface chemical, and mechanical properties. A detailed description of our surface probe microscopy (SPM) capability, specifically designed for handling of Pu coupons is given in the references. In FY20, four tasks have been undertaken: Resumed maintenance of Pu AFM and modification of STM capabilities including calibration, annual measurement of Pu surface, and implementation of additional instrumentation for rapid heating effort; Analyzed AFM FY19 gas dosing experiment data of 7 at% gallium-stabilized δ-phase Pu (δ-Pu) coupon; Determined the direction of future gas dosing experiments to investigate reversibility of surface features; and, Published a paper titled "Effects of ion sputtering on plutonium surfaces" in the Journal of Nuclear Materials.