Pressure Dependence of Ferromagnetism in Uranium Hydride UH3 up to 20 GPa Revealed by NV Centers Magnetometry
Abstract
The origin of ferromagnetism in the stable β-UH3 phase is still debated. With a high Curie temperature and a short uranium-uranium interatomic distance, β-UH3 is placed outside the known systematics of uranium compounds. Pressure provides a powerful means of tuning magnetism toward its suppression, thereby offering valuable insights into its underlying mechanisms, yet the high-pressure behavior of β-UH3 has remained largely unexplored. Here, we combine in the Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) the development of pure β-UH3 synthesis and widefield nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center magnetometry to measure the pressure dependence of the Curie temperature in β-UH3 up to about 20~GPa. We present two data analysis methods, vector magnetic field reconstruction and statistical analysis of the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) response, which enable us to directly image the magnetic dipole of β-UH3 during isobaric warming. We observe a linear decrease in the Curie temperature with pressure, yielding a slope of dTC/dP=−3.86 (8)~K/GPa. Ferromagnetism in β-UH3 is predicted to reach 0~K at approximately 44~GPa, where a quantum critical point may emerge.
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BibTeX
@misc{schmidt2026pressure,
title = {{Pressure Dependence of Ferromagnetism in Uranium Hydride UH$_3$ up to 20 GPa Revealed by NV Centers Magnetometry}},
author = {Valentin Schmidt and Loïc Toraille and Florent Occelli and Jean-François Roch and Paul Loubeyre},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.08707},
eprint = {2609.08707},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08707},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Pressure Dependence of Ferromagnetism in Uranium Hydride UH_3 up to 20 GPa Revealed by NV Centers Magnetometry
AU - Valentin Schmidt
AU - Loïc Toraille
AU - Florent Occelli
AU - Jean-François Roch
AU - Paul Loubeyre
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.08707
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.08707
AB - The origin of ferromagnetism in the stable β-UH_3 phase is still debated. With a high Curie temperature and a short uranium-uranium interatomic distance, β-UH_3 is placed outside the known systematics of uranium compounds. Pressure provides a powerful means of tuning magnetism toward its suppression, thereby offering valuable insights into its underlying mechanisms, yet the high-pressure behavior of β-UH_3 has remained largely unexplored. Here, we combine in the Diamond Anvil Cell (DAC) the development of pure β-UH_3 synthesis and widefield nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center magnetometry to measure the pressure dependence of the Curie temperature in β-UH_3 up to about 20~GPa. We present two data analysis methods, vector magnetic field reconstruction and statistical analysis of the optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) response, which enable us to directly image the magnetic dipole of β-UH_3 during isobaric warming. We observe a linear decrease in the Curie temperature with pressure, yielding a slope of dT_C/dP=−3.86 (8)~K/GPa. Ferromagnetism in β-UH_3 is predicted to reach 0~K at approximately 44~GPa, where a quantum critical point may emerge.
ER -