Xiaoyang Zhu

Research Interest

Quantum Materials, Ultrafast Spectroscopy

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 probe the dynamics of collective modes and associated quasiparticles in quantum phases of matter using state-of-the-art laser spectroscopies. These include femtosecond nonlinear optical spectroscopies, transient absorption and emission spectroscopies, magneto-optical spectroscopies, and multidimensional spectroscopies in broad energy ranges, from GHz to visible, all in cryogenic microscopes. Recent discoveries in our labs include exciton-coupled magnons, coherent ferrons, and magnetic signatures for a coveted fractional topological insulator. Our group is part of the NSF Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) for Advanced Electronic Materials (AEM).

Yiping Wang, Gillian E. Minarik, Weijie Li, Yves Kwan, Shuai Yuan, Eric Anderson, Chaowei Hu, Julian Ingham, Jeongheon Choe, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Xavier Roy, Jiun-Haw Chu, Raquel Queiroz, James C. Hone, N. Regnault, Xiaodong Xu, X.-Y. Zhu, “Magnetic Signatures of a Putative Fractional Topological Insulator in Twisted MoTe2,” Phys. Rev. X 2026, 16, 031009.

Jeongheon Choe, Taketo Handa, Chun-Ying Huang, André Koch Liston, Jordan Cox, Jonathan Stensberg, Yongseok Hong, Daniel G. Chica, Ding Xu, Fuyang Tay, Samra Husremovic, Vinícius da S. L. Avelar, Eric A. Arsenault, Zhuquan Zhang, James McIver, Dmitri N. Basov, Milan Delor, Xavier Roy, X.-Y. Zhu, “Observation of coherent ferron emission and propagation,” Nature Mater. 2026, 25, 1755-1761.

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 MoTe2 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.

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.

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.