Electronic structure of the PuCoIn5 compound

Abstract

The electronic structure of the new superconductor PuCoIn5 has been examined within the LDA+U+SO method taking into account both strong electron correlations and spin-orbit coupling between 5f electrons of an actinide metal. As compared to the characteristics of the known superconductor PuCoGa5, Pu 5f states in PuCoIn5 are more localized but with an intermediate type of coupling between 5f electrons with a strong prevalence of the LS type. However, at a small volume corresponding to the volume of the unit cell of the PuCoGa5 superconductor, the electronic and spectral characteristics of PuCoIn5 are close to the corresponding parameters of PuCoGa5. It has been shown that the occupancy of Co 3d states in PuCoIn5 is close to the previously estimated limiting values providing the optimal doping regime in the electron subsystem of super-conductors of the Pu-115 series.