Yue Cao preview image

Yue Cao

Physicist

Biography

Dr. Yue Cao focuses on the emergent properties in a wide range of quantum and functional materials using cutting-edge X-ray methods. These materials include unconventional superconductors, strongly correlated transition metal oxides, topological materials, and materials with reduced dimensionality. Dr. Cao focuses on the intricate interplay between the lattice, charge, spin and orbital orders that give rise to the emergent properties, as well as possible approaches to control these properties using strain engineering, ultrafast optical lasers, amongst other means. His recent interest lies in developing coherent and ultrafast X-ray approaches for understanding the material responses under the external electric and optical stimuli.

Dr. Cao obtained his B.S. from Tsinghua University in China in 2007, and his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 2014. He was a postdoctoral research associate at the Brookhaven National Laboratory before joining Argonne as a staff member. Dr. Cao was an elected member of the User Executive Committee of the Linac Coherent Light Source between 2020-2023, and received the Early Career Award from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) in 2023.

Professional Experience

  • 2024-               Physicist, Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory 
  • 2018-2024      Assistant Physicist, Material Science Division, Argonne National Laboratory 
  • 2014-2018       Research Associate, X-ray Scattering Group, Brookhaven National Laboratory

Education

  • 2007-2014        Ph.D. in Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO
  • 2003-2007        B.S. in Physics/Math, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Selected Publications

  1. A. Mangu, V. A. Stoica, H. Zheng, et al. Hidden non-equilibrium pathways towards crystalline perfection. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 122, e2407772122 (2025).
  2. Xiaoran Liu, Jong-Woo Kim, Yao Wang, et al. Chiral Spin-Liquid-Like State in Pyrochlore Iridate Thin Films. Nat. Commun. 15, 10348 (2024).
  3. V. A. Stoica, T. Yang, S. Das, et al. Non-equilibrium pathways to form emergent polar supertextures. Nat. Mater. 23, 1394 - 1401 (2024). 
  4. Marc Zajac, Tao Zhou, Tiannan Yang, et al. Optical Control of Adaptive Nanoscale Domain Networks. Adv. Mater. 2405294(2024).
  5. Hao Zheng, Tao Zhou, Dina Sheyfer, et al. Heterogeneous field response of hierarchical polar laminates in relaxor ferroelectrics. Science 384, 1447-1452 (2024).
  6. Dina Sheyfer, Hao Zheng, Matthew Krogstad, et al. X-ray Induced Piezoresponse during X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy of PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3. J. Synchrotron Rad. 31, 55-64 (2024).
  7. Xun Jia, Anubhab Haldar, Jungho Kim, et al. Interplay of broken symmetry and delocalized excitations in the insulating state of 1T-TaS2. Phys. Rev. B 108, 205105 (2023).
  8. S. Maddali, T. D. Frazer, N. Delegan, et al. Concurrent multi-peak Bragg coherent x-ray diffraction imaging of 3D nanocrystal lattice displacement via global optimization. npj Computational Materials 9, 77 (2023).
  9. Travis D. Frazer, Yi Zhu, Zhonghou Cai, et al. Resolving the evolution of a transient structural grating by time-resolved x-ray diffraction microscopy. Sci. Rep. 11, 19322 (2021).
  10. D. G. Mazzone, D. Meyers, Y. Cao, et al. Laser-induced transient magnons in Sr3Ir2O7 throughout the Brillouin zone. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 118, e2103696118 (2021).
  11. Yue Cao, Tadesse Assefa, Soham Banerjee, et al. Complete Strain Mapping of Nanosheets of Tantalum Disulfide. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 43173-43179 (2020).
  12. Tadesse A. Assefa, Yue Cao, Soham Banerjee, et al. Ultrafast x-ray diffraction study of melt-front dynamics in polycrystalline thin films. Sci. Adv. 6, eaax2445 (2020).
  13. Yue Cao, D. G. Mazzone, I. Jarrige, J. P. Hill, S. Wall & M. P. M. Dean. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 377, 20170480 (2019).
  14. M. P. M. Dean, Y. Cao, X. Liu et al. Ultrafast energy and momentum resolved dynamics of magnetic correlations in photo-doped Mott insulator Sr2IrO4. Nat. Mater. 15, 601-605 (2016).
  15. Y. Cao, Q. Wang, J. A. Waugh, et al. Hallmarks of the Mott-metal crossover in the hole-doped pseudospin-1/2 Mott insulator Sr2IrO4. Nat. Commun. 7, 11367 (2016).
  16. Y. Cao, J. A. Waugh, X.-W. Zhang, et al. Mapping the orbital wavefunction of the surface states in three-dimensional topological insulators. Nat. Phys. 9, 499-504 (2013).