Assistant Professor of Physics
About
Professor Zhao's group is interested in probing, understanding, and eventually controlling emergent electronic and magnetic phases in quantum materials, including both three-dimensional (3D) bulk and two-dimensional (2D) atomic and moire crystals. In particular, her group focuses on the 3D and 2D materials with strong electron-electron interactions and/or strong spin orbit coupling. Her primary experimental tools are a broad set of optical spectroscopy and microscopy techniques, including linear and nonlinear, static and ultrafast, elastic and inelastic ones. If you are interested in our research, please explore Professor Zhao's group website (Zhao Research Group) for more information.
For her work, Professor Zhao is a recipient of 2018 NSF CAREER Award, 2019 Bryan R. Coles Prize of SCES, 2020 AFOSR YIP Award, and 2021 Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.
Selected Publications:
Ultrafast Modulations and Detection of a Ferro-Rotational Charge Density Wave Using Time-Resolved Electric Quadrupole Second Harmonic Generation (X. Luo, D. Obeysekera, C. Won, S. H. Sung, N. Schnitzer, R. Hovden, S.W. Cheong, J. Yang, K. Sun, L. Zhao) Phys. Rev. Letters in press (2021).
Mirror Symmetry Breaking in a Model Insulating Cuprate (A. de la Torre, K.L. Seyler, L. Zhao, S. Di Matteo, M.S. Scheurer, Y. Li, B. Yu, M. Greven, S. Sachdev, M.R. Norman, D. Hsieh) Nature Physics 17, 777 (2021).
Observation of the Polaronic Character of Excitons in a Two-Dimensional Semiconducting Magnet CrI3 (W. Jin, H. H. Kim, Z. Ye, G. Ye, L. Rojas, X. Luo, B.Yang, F.Yin, J.A. Horng, S.Tian, Y. Fu, G. Xu, H. Deng, H. Lei, K. Sun, A.W. Tsen, R. He, L. Zhao) Nature Communications 11, 4780 (2020).
Tunable Layered-Magnetism-Assisted Magneto-Raman Effect in a Two-Dimensional Magnet CrI3 (W. Jin, Z. Ye, X. Luo, B. Yang, G. Ye, F. Yin, H. H. Kim, L. Rojas, S. Tian, Y. Fu, S. Yan, H. Lei, K. Sun, A.W. Tsen, R. He, L. Zhao) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 117, 24664 (2020).
Symmetry-Resolved Two-Magnon Excitations in a Strong Spin-Orbit-Coupled Bilayer Antiferromagnet (S. Li, E. Drueke, Z. Porter, W. Jin, Z. Lu, D. Smirnov, R. Merlin, S.D. Wilson, K. Sun, L. Zhao) Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 087202 (2020).
Magnetic-Field-Induced Quantum Phase Transitions in a Van Der Waals Magnet (S. Li*, Z. Ye*, X. Luo*, G. Ye, H.H. Kim, B. Yang, S. Tian, C. Li, H. Lei, A.W. Tsen, K. Sun, R. He, L. Zhao) Phys. Rev. X 10, 011075 (2020).
Observation of a Ferro-Rotational Order Coupled with Second-Order Nonlinear Optical Fields (W. Jin*, E. Drueke*, S. Li, A. Adamasu, R. Owen, M. Day, K. Sun, S.W. Cheong, L. Zhao) Nature Physics 16, 42 (2020).
A Charge Density Wave-Like Instability in a Doped Spin-Orbit-Assisted Weak Mott Insulator (H. Chu, L. Zhao, A. de la Torre, T. Hogan, S.D. Wilson, D. Hsieh) Nature Materials 16, 200 (2017).
A Global Inversion-Symmetry-Broken Phase Inside the Pseudogap Region of YBa2Cu3Oy (L. Zhao, C. A. Belvin, R. Liang, D. A. Bonn, W.N. Hardy, N.P. Armitage, D. Hsieh) Nature Physics 13, 250 (2017).
Evidence of an Odd-Parity Magnetic Order in a Strong Spin-Orbit Coupled Correlated Iridate (L. Zhao, D.H. Torchinsky, H. Chu, V. Ivanov, R. Lifshitz, R. Flint, T. Qi, G. Cao, D. Hsieh) Nature Physics 12, 32 (2016).
Local Atomic and Electronic Structure of Boron Chemical Doping in Monolayer Graphene (L. Zhao, M. Levendorf, S. J. Goncher, T. Schiros, L. Palova, A. Zabet, K.T. Rim, C. Gutierrez, D. Nordlund, C. Jaye, M.S. Hybertsen, D. Reichman, G.W. Flynn, J. Park, A.N. Pasupathy) Nano. Letters 13, 4659 (2013).
Visualizing Individual Nitrogen Dopants in Monolayer Graphene (L. Zhao, R. He, K.T. Rim, T. Schiros, K.S. Kim, H. Zhou, C. Gutierrez, S.P. Chockalingam, C.J. Arguello, L. Palova, D. Nordlund, M.S. Hybertsen, D. Reichman, T.F. Heinz, P. Kim, A. Pinczuk, G.W. Flynn, A.N. Pasupathy) Science 333, 999 (2011).
Field(s) of Study
- Ultrafast Optics and Nonlinear Optics
- Condensed Matter Experiment
- Correlated Electron Systems, Strong Spin-Orbit Coupled Systems, Two-Dimensional Systems
