Hydrogen Isotopic Effects of Uranium Hydrides: First-Principles Calculations

Abstract

In this paper, we study the ground-state and lattice dynamical properties of β-UH--3by means of the first-principles density functional theory within the local spin-density approximation (LSDA)+Uformulism. The lattice constants and electronic structure are correctly described by taking into account the strong on-site Coulomb repulsion among the 5felectrons localized on uranium atoms. Good agreement with experiments is achieved by tuning the effective Hubbard parameter at around 4 eV. The phonon band structure confirms the dynamical stability of β-UH--3, and the Raman-active modes are consistent with Raman spectrum measurements. The substitution of the deuterium (tritium) atom for hydrogen atom makes significant variations in the typical frequency of Raman-active modes. It is found that the Raman-active mode frequency is approximately inversely proportional to the square root of the hydrogen isotope mass. We conclude that Raman spectrum provides a powerful method for detecting hydrogen isotopic effects.