A team that includes researchers affiliated with the University of Maryland in the United States and institutions in China and Poland reports growing stoichiometric hexagonal TiAs single crystals. The October 9 arXiv preprint, which has not undergone peer review, says the crystals were made by iodine-assisted chemical-vapor transport and examined with X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, angle-resolved photoemission and magnetotransport measurements.

The measurements identified four Raman-active phonon modes consistent with hexagonal crystal symmetry. First-principles calculations indicate symmetry-protected fourfold band degeneracies and a strong topological index ν₀=1, while transport tests showed pronounced twofold angular magnetoresistance. The authors present TiAs as a possible materials platform for studying topological band structure and directional transport; they did not fabricate or test an electronic device. The first page lists coauthor Zahir Muhammad at the University of Maryland’s Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, alongside other affiliations in China and Poland.