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By investigations of phase relations in the alloy system Ba-Pt-Si at 900°C we observe the formation of the compound BaPtSi 3 , which crystallizes in the noncentrosymmetric BaNiSn 3 structure type. Its space group is I4mm with the tetragonal lattice parameters a = 0.44094͑2͒nm and c = 1.0013͑2͒nm for the arc-melted compound annealed at 900°C. The characterization of the physical properties of BaPtSi 3 reveals a superconducting transition at 2.25 K with an upper critical field at T =0 K of Ϸ0.05 T. For analyzing the electronic structure, density-functional theory calculations are performed yielding very good agreement between theory and experiment for the structural properties. From relativistic electronic-structure calculations, Fermi surface nesting features are found for two characteristic double sets of bands. The spin-orbit splitting of the relativistic electronic bands is in general rather small at Fermi energy and, therefore, superconductivity adheres to an almost undisturbed BCS state.

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The temperature-dependent diffusion coefficients of interstitial hydrogen, deuterium, and tritium in nickel are computed using transition state theory. The coefficient of thermal expansion, the enthalpy and entropy of activation, and the pre-exponential factor of the diffusion coefficient are obtained from ab initio total energy and phonon calculations including the vibrations of all atoms. Numerical results reveal that diffusion between octahedral interstitial sites occurs along an indirect path via the metastable tetrahedral site and that both the migration enthalpy and entropy are strongly temperature dependent. However, the migration enthalpy and entropy are coupled so that the diffusion coefficient is well described by a constant activation energy, i.e., D = D 0 exp͓−Q / ͑RT͔͒, with Q = 45.72, 44.09, and 43.04 kJ/ mol and D 0 = 3.84ϫ 10 −6 , 2.40ϫ 10 −6 , 1.77 ϫ 10 −6 m 2 s −1 for H, D, and T, respectively. The diffusion of deuterium and tritium is computed to be slower than that of hydrogen only at temperatures above 400 K. At lower temperatures, the order is reversed in excellent agreement with experiment. The present approach is applicable to atoms of any mass as it includes the full coupling between the vibrational modes of the diffusing atom with the host lattice.