Understanding and leveraging short-range order in compositionally complex alloys

In this article, we review the opportunities and challenges associated with complex concentrated materials that exhibit short-range order. Although the presence of such phenomena has been theorized, accurate computational representation, characterization, and materials design have clear challenges associated with its complexity. Advances in both high-resolution and high-fidelity methods, as well as machine-learning-aided techniques, have paved a path for realization of complex concentrated systems with deterministic short-range order, and provide a foundation on which these alloys and materials can be developed for various applications in functional, structural, and biomedical applications.