Formation of NaCl-type lanthanum monodeuteride under high pressure

Machida, Akihiko; Honda, Mitsunori*; Hattori, Takanori   ; Sano, Asami   ; Watanuki, Tetsu; Katayama, Yoshinori; Aoki, Katsutoshi; Komatsu, Kazuki*; Arima, Hiroshi*; Oshita, Hidetoshi*; Ikeda, Kazutaka*; Suzuya, Kentaro; Otomo, Toshiya*; Tsubota, Masami*; Ichikawa, Takayuki*; Kojima, Yoshitsugu*; Kim, D. Y.*

Hydrogen atoms absorbed in a metal occupy the interstitial sites of the metal lattice. In an fcc metal lattice, each metal atom has two tetrahedral (T) and one octahedral (O) sites that can accommodate hydrogen. Rare-earth metal La forms T-site occupied LaH and fully occupied LaH. Previous X-ray diffraction measurements revealed the pressure-induced decomposition of an fcc-LaH into H-rich and H-poor phases around 11 GPa. We performed the neutron diffraction measurements on LaD, and found the formation of NaCl-type LaD as a phase separation products. We have first found the NaCl-type rare-earth metal monohydride.