Helium-hydrogen immiscibility at high pressures

Yu Wang, Xiao Zhang, Shuqing Jiang, Zachary M. Geballe, Teerachote Pakornchote, Maddury Somayazulu, Vitali Prakapenka, Eran Greenberg, Alexander F. Goncharov

Published 2018-09-25Version 1

Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in the universe and they constitute the interiors of gas giant planets. Thus, their equations of states, phase, chemical state, and chemical reactivity at extreme conditions are of great interest. Applying Raman spectroscopy, visual observation, and synchrotron X-ray diffraction in diamond anvil cells (DAC), we performed experiments on H2-He 1:1 and D2-He 1:10 compressed gas mixture up to 100 GPa at 300 K. By comparing with the available data on pure bulk materials, we find no sign of miscibility, chemical reactivity, and new compound formation.