News
2026
Lifu Zhang and Liuxin Gu’s paper showing that Wigner polarons probe the dynamics of an electron crystal was published in Nature Physics, with an accompanying News & Views by Mauro Brotons-Gisbert and Brian Gerardot (“Wigner crystals get dressed”), and featured by Phys.org and Maryland Today.
The NSF Quantum Leap Challenge Institute for Robust Quantum Simulation (RQS), in which You Zhou is senior personnel, was renewed for Phase II (2026–2031). Thanks to NSF for supporting our research.
Beini Gao’s paper on the quantum anomalous Hall effect, a joint project with the Hafezi group, was published in Physical Review X. Read the plain-language research highlight.
You Zhou was promoted to Associate Professor.
You Zhou received the Junior Faculty Outstanding Research Award from the A. James Clark School of Engineering at the University of Maryland.
Sabyasachi Das won the 2026 FIAP Ken Hass Outstanding Student Paper Award at the APS March Meeting! Congratulations!
Our collaborative paper with the Hafezi group on exciton diffusion near an electronic Mott insulator was published in Science.
Ruihao Ni and Beini Gao defended their Ph.D. dissertations. Ruihao Ni is staying on in the lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Beini Gao, co-advised with Mohammad Hafezi, is now a postdoc at the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter. Congratulations!
2025
You Zhou co-organized Symposium MQ04, Emerging Materials for Quantum Information Technologies, at the 2025 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston.
Liuxin Gu’s paper on excitons quantum-confined by an electrostatic moiré superlattice was published in Physical Review Letters.
Liuxin Gu won the Ann G. Wylie Dissertation Fellowship from the Graduate School at the University of Maryland! Congratulations!
Our joint paper with the Hafezi group on a sub-wavelength optical lattice for excitons, with Liuxin Gu as a co-first author, was published in Science Advances. Read the plain-language research highlight.
Liuxin Gu successfully defended a Ph.D. dissertation in Materials Science and Engineering and stayed on in the lab as a postdoctoral researcher. Congratulations!
2024
Our joint paper with the Hafezi group on atomically thin cavities, with Ruihao Ni as a co-first author, was published in Science Advances.
Lifu Zhang’s paper on electrical control and transport of interlayer excitons was published in Physical Review Letters.
Liuxin Gu’s paper on giant optical nonlinearity of Fermi polarons was published in Nature Photonics and highlighted by the Department of Energy Office of Science. We appreciate the support from DOE and NSF.
You Zhou received the 2DM Young Scientist Award from the journal 2D Materials and IOP Publishing.
You Zhou was recognized at the 2024 Maryland Research Excellence Celebration.
2023
You Zhou received the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award from the Oak Ridge Associated Universities.
You Zhou gave an invited talk at the 18th Optics of Excitons in Confined Systems (OECS 18) conference in Lecce, Italy.
You Zhou received the Outstanding Young Scientist award from the Maryland Academy of Sciences and the Maryland Science Center.
You Zhou received the IUPAP Early Career Scientist Prize in the Structure and Dynamics of Condensed Matter and gave an invited talk at the APS March Meeting.
2022
You Zhou gave an invited talk at the 11th International Conference on Spontaneous Coherence in Excitonic systems (ICSCE-11).
You Zhou received the 2022 Department of Energy Early Career Award. Thanks to DOE for supporting our research.
2021
You Zhou received the NSF CAREER Award. Thanks to NSF for supporting our research.
Our recent results on electron crystals were discussed in Quanta Magazine.
Our collaborative paper with the Kats group (University of Wisconsin–Madison) on temperature-independent thermal radiation from SmNiO3 was highlighted by the Department of Energy.
Our paper on the observation of bilayer Wigner crystals and their quantum melting in an atomically thin heterostructure was published in Nature.
Our arXiv preprint reporting Wigner crystals in 2D materials was recommended, with a commentary by Prof. Thierry Giamarchi (University of Geneva), in the Journal Club for Condensed Matter Physics.
2020
We organized a virtual mini-symposium on Correlated Insulating States in Two Dimensions at the Institute for Theoretical Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics at Harvard. Many exciting talks. Watch the mini-symposium talks on YouTube.
Our paper on controlling the valley degree of freedom of excitons in twisted WSe2/WSe2 bilayers appeared in Physical Review Letters and was highlighted in Nature Reviews Materials.
Our paper on tuning the radiative lifetime of excitons in a MoSe2 monolayer was published in Physical Review Letters and was selected as an Editors’ Suggestion. Read the plain-language research highlight.
2019
You Zhou gave an invited talk at Fundamental Optical Processes in Semiconductors (FOPS 2019). Many inspiring talks and great discussions.