Electronic structure investigation of Americium monopnictides

The americium mono pnictides have as yet not been investigated in detail, but their electronic structure could potentially be of interest. One important aspect of interest is the degree of localization of the Am 5f-electrons. Within the series of the actinide elements, the transition from delocalized 5f-states to localized 5f-states occurs at around Pu. Am, the element to the right of Pu in the Periodic Table, has localized 5f electrons, as can be recognized, for example, Tom the jump in the lattice constant and from its photoemission spectrum. The behavior Of the 5f electrons in Pu or Am compounds, may, however, be different, due to 5f-ligand hybridization or 5f-6d hybridization. For example, in spite of the larger Pu-Pu separation of the Pu mono chalcogenides, these appear to have Pu 5f states in the vicinity of the Fermi energy. The equilibrium lattice constants of the actinide pnictides shows that the Am pnictides do not follow the monotonous contracting trend with the atomic number that is typical for the lanthanide pnictides. This could be an indication that the 5f-s in the lighter Am pnictides are still relatively delocalized