Research Interests 

Physical properties of novel materials. Materials of interest include superconducting materials, magnetic materials, ferroelectric and other dielectric materials. Problems of interest: high-temperature superconductivity, new paradigms for elementary excitations in low-dimensional compounds, quantum phase transitions, Kondo insulators and the mixed valence problem, magneto-resistive materials, metal-insulator transitions, organic conductors and superconductors.

• Solid State Physics
• Understanding the interactions between light and matter using spectroscopy and microscopy techniques: high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, core level photoemission and absorption spectroscopy, inelastic x-ray scattering, and soft x-ray emission spectroscopy
• Development of advanced scientific instrumentation: synchrotron radiation instrumentation, high-resolution photoelectron spectroscopy, laser based electron and light spectroscopy, novel materials detection and characterization methodology, and microwave based microscopy
• Surface and interface properties of materials – metals, semiconductors, insulators and superconductors. Ultra-thin film growth and characterization

Career History

• Ph.D., 1989, Stanford University; M.S., 1985, Rutgers University; B.S., 1983, Fudan University.
• Research Associate, Stanford Univeristy, 1989-90; Acting Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, 1991-92; Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and SSRL, 1991-96; Associate Professor of Physics, Applied Physics and SSRL, 1996-2000; Professor of Physics, Applied Physics and SSRL ( Electrical Engineering by courtesy) 2000 to present.
• Sloan Research Fellow, 1993; NSF Young Investigator Award, 1993; Outstanding Young Researcer Award, Overseas Chinese Physics Association, 1993; Materials Science Research Award for Outstanding Scientifiec Accomplishment in SSP, DOE, 1994; Kammerlingh Onnes Prize (for outstanding experiments which illuminate the nature of superconductivity), 2000; Takeda Foundation Technical Entrepreneurship Award, 2002; American Physical Society Fellow, 2002; Paul Pigott Professorship in the Physical Sciences, 2006.