US condensed-matter community grapples with availability of crystalline samples.

The article discusses the lack of crystal growing for use in physics measurements and condensed matter experiments in the U.S. Loren Pfeiffer, a technician at Bell Labs, was the only U.S. source of semiconductor crystals for experiments. Labs in Japan have created divisions for crystal growing. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sponsored a workshop on crystal growth. A study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences will evaluate national crystal growth.