Xiaoyang Zhu
Research Interest
Summary: We aim to understand and discover quantum materials, where new physical properties emerge from strong correlation, topology, and coherence in the condensed phase. We focus on dynamics of elementary excitations, collective modes, and associated quasiparticles in quantum phases of matter. We employ state-of-the art experimental tools, including femtosecond nonlinear optical spectroscopies, transient absorption and emission spectroscopies, magneto-optical spectroscopies, and multidimensional spectroscopies in broad energy ranges, from GHz to visible. Recent discoveries in our labs reveal how excitons at van der Waals 2D semiconductor interfaces undergo phase transitions, how magnetic order couple to excitons in 2D magnetic semiconductors, and how a time-domain view can be most sensitive in revealing a large number of quantum phases at fractional fillings in 2D moiré superlattices. Our group is part of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center (EFRC) on Programmable Quantum Materials and part of the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) for Precision-Assembled Quantum Materials.
Yiping Wang, Jeongheon Choe, Eric Anderson, Weijie Li, Julian Ingham, Eric A Arsenault, Yiliu Li, Xiaodong Hu, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Xavier Roy, Dmitri Basov, Di Xiao, Raquel Queiroz, James C Hone, Xiaodong Xu, X.-Y. Zhu, “Hidden States and Dynamics of Fractional Fillings in twisted MoTe 2 Bilayers,” Nature 2025, 641, 1149-1155.
Taketo Handa, Chun-Ying Huang, Yiliu Li, Nicholas Olsen, Daniel G Chica, David D Xu, Felix Sturm, James W McIver, Xavier Roy, X.-Y. Zhu, “Terahertz Emission from Giant Optical Rectification in a van der Waals Material,” Nature Mater. 2025, 24, 1203-1208.
Youn Jue Bae, Jue Wang, Allen Scheie, Junwen Xu, Daniel G. Chica, Geoffrey M. Diederich, John Cenker, Michael E. Ziebel, Yusong Bai, Haowen Ren, Cory R. Dean, Milan Delor, Xiaodong Xu, Xavier Roy, Andrew D. Kent, X.-Y. Zhu, “Exciton-Coupled Coherent Magnons in a 2D Semiconductor,” Nature 2022, 609, 282-286
Nathan P. Wilson, Kihong Lee, John Cenker, Kaichen Xie, Avalon H. Dismukes, Evan J. Telford, Jordan Fonseca, Shivesh Sivakumar, Cory Dean, Ting Cao, Xavier Roy, Xiaodong Xu, X.-Y. Zhu, “Interlayer electronic coupling on demand in a 2D Magnetic Semiconductor,” Nature Mater. 2021, 20, 1657-1663.
Fang Liu, Wenjing Wu, Yusong Bai, Sang Hoon Chae, Qiuyang Li, Jue Wang, James Hone, X.-Y. Zhu, “Disassembling 2D van der Waals Crystals into Macroscopic Monolayers and Reassembling into Artificial Lattices,” Science 2020, 367, 903-906.
Yusong Bai, Lin Zhou, Jue Wang, Wenjing Wu, Leo McGilly, Dorri Halbertal, Chiu Fan B. Lo, Fang Liu, Jenny Ardelean, Pasqual Rivera, Nathan R. Finney, Xuchen Yang, Dmitri N. Basov, Wang Yao, Xiaodong Xu, James Hone, Abhay Pasupathy, X.-Y. Zhu, “Excitons in strain-induced one-dimensional moiré potentials at transition-metal dichalcogenide heterojunctions,” Nature Mater. 2020, 19, 1068-1073.