An October 9 arXiv preprint from MIT researchers describes a synthesis approach they call diffusion-activated epitaxy for exploring quantum materials. It combines two processes that each rely on metastable conditions: diffusion and epitaxy. Within a narrow window of the synthesis conditions they investigated, the team experimentally identified four distinct phases. For three, X-ray diffraction and scanning transmission electron microscopy data did not match crystal structures in experimental and computational inorganic structure databases.

The paper’s first page lists US-based MIT departments and labs, alongside affiliations at Cornell and Duke in the United States and the Max Planck Institute in Germany. These are research findings in a preprint, not a claim that the phases are ready for industrial production. The authors conclude that combining two metastable synthesis processes may widen the search space for quantum materials. The paper has not yet undergone peer review.