Communication: Dynamical and structural analyses of solid hydrogen under vapor pressure
Abstract
Nuclear quantum effects play a dominant role in determining the phase diagram of H2. With a recently developed quantum molecular dynamics simulation method, we examine dynamical and structural characters of solid H2 under vapor pressure, demonstrating the difference from liquid and high-pressure solid H2. While stable hexagonal close-packed lattice structures are reproduced with reasonable lattice phonon frequencies, the most stable adjacent configuration exhibits a zigzag structure, in contrast with the T-shape liquid configuration. The periodic angular distributions of H2 molecules indicate that molecules are not a completely free rotor in the vapor-pressure solid reflecting asymmetric potentials from surrounding molecules on adjacent lattice sites. Discrete jumps of librational and H-H vibrational frequencies as well as H-H bond length caused by structural rearrangements under vapor pressure effectively discriminate the liquid and solid phases. The obtained dynamical and structural information of the vapor-pressure H2 solid will be useful in monitoring thermodynamic states of condensed hydrogens.
- Publication:
-
Journal of Chemical Physics
- Pub Date:
- November 2015
- DOI:
- 10.1063/1.4935509
- Bibcode:
- 2015JChPh.143q1102H