Optical and Chemical Characterization of Uranium Dioxide (UO) and Uraninite Mineral: Calculation of the Fundamental Optical Constants.

Uranium dioxide (UO) is a material with historical and emerging applications in numerous areas such as photonics, nuclear energy, and aerospace electronics. While often grown synthetically as single-crystal UO, the mineralogical form of UO called uraninite is of interest as a precursor to various chemical processes involving uranium-bearing chemicals. Here, we investigate the optical and chemical properties of a series of three UO specimens: synthetic single-crystal UO, uraninite ore of relatively high purity, and massive uraninite mineral containing numerous impurities.