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X-rays glimpse solid hydrogen’s structure

Little was known about the properties of hydrogen under extreme pressure. Experiments now reveal key details about the arrangement of molecules in several of the element’s high-pressure phases.
  1. Bartomeu Monserrat

    1. Bartomeu Monserrat is at the Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0HE, UK.

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  2. Chris J. Pickard

    1. Chris J. Pickard is in the Department of Materials Science and Metallurgy, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB3 0FS, UK, and at the Advanced Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Sendai, Japan.

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Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the Universe. Our knowledge of celestial bodies such as the Sun, which is about 75% hydrogen1, relies on understanding the properties of this element at extreme temperature and pressure. Replicating these conditions in the laboratory is exceptionally challenging, and even the structure of high-pressure phases of hydrogen at low temperatures has been an open question. Writing in Nature, Ji et al.2 report experiments that probe this structure at unprecedented pressures, revealing a hexagonal close-packed arrangement of molecules.

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Nature 573, 504-505 (2019)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-02811-1

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