Rui Liu

Rui Liu is an Assistant Scientist at the Center for Nanoscale Materials, working jointly with the CNM/APS Hard X-ray Nanoprobe (26-ID). His research targets epitaxial complex-oxide thin films and nanostructures for quantum information and microelectronics, integrating synthesis and fabrication, especially solid-phase epitaxy in lithographically defined nanoscale geometries. He develops AI-assisted, autonomous sputter-beam epitaxy with in situ RHEED, SHG, and ellipsometry to access metastable phases and accelerate materials discovery. Leveraging strain and polarization engineering to concentrate optical and electronic fields at the 10-nm scale, his work advances electro-optic cavities for quantum transduction, ultradense ferroelectric memories, and programmable oxide/2D materials interfaces. At the synchrotron, he develops in-situ/operando X-ray nanoprobe microscopy, including nanodiffraction and coherent Bragg imaging/ptychography, to resolve stress, lattice rotation, and domain dynamics during optical pump and device operation.

Open Positions:

No postdoc opennings.

Co-advising graduate students with universities at CNM and APS.
SCGSR / SULI / CCI / SIP / ESRP/ VFP faculty, graduate, undergraduate, and high-school students are welcome.

Please contact me at rui.​liu@​anl.​gov if interested.

Professional Experience:

• 2024-present       Assistant Scientist, Center for Nanoscale Materials, Argonne National Laboratory
• 2020-2024           Research Associate, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Education:

• 2013-2019            Ph.D. in Physics, Stony Brook University, SUNY, NY
• 2008-2012           B.S. in Physics, Nanjing University, China

Research Topics:

• Solid-phase epitaxy of complex oxides in lithographically defined, nanoscale-confined geometries.
• Artificially engineered nanoscale perovskite oxides (ferroelectrics, correlated oxides) for quantum, photonic, and microelectronic applications.
• AI-assisted autonomous sputter-beam epitaxy for metastable phases and rapid recipe discovery.
• In-situ/operando hard X-ray diffraction microscopy (nanodiffraction, Bragg ptychography) and coherent X-ray scattering under deposition, heating/cooling, DC/RF bias, liquid/gas, and laser pump.

Current/Previous Projects:

• Center for Nanoscale Materials, Electron and X-ray Microscopy: Synthesis and nanofabrication of complex-oxide thin films/nanostructures for quantum information and microelectronics, support users as part of DOE NSRC program.
• Hard X-ray Nanoprobe: Nanoscale X-ray diffraction/ptychography to map stress, lattice rotation, and domain dynamics in operando, support users as part of DOE X-ray light sources program.
• Department of Energy, Scientific User Facilities, ​“AI-assisted Autonomous Epitaxial Synthesis Platform with Real-Time Optical and Electron Characterization.” (Lead PI, 2025 - present)
• Department of Energy, Scientific User Facilities, ​“In-situ Heating, Biasing, and Environmental (Gas/Liquid) Holder for Integrated Use across X-ray Nanoprobe, TEM, and SEM.” (Lead PI, 2026 - present)
• Argonne LDRD Light-Matter program, ​“High-efficiency electro-optic cavities for quantum transduction in solid-phase epitaxially defined hybrid nanostructures.” (Lead PI, 2026-2029) 

Selected Publications:

• Rui Liu, Carlos Nuñez Lobato, Donald E. Savage, Kyle P. Kelley, Dennis Valbjørn Christensen, Paul G. Evans, ​“Epitaxial growth of conducting perovskite SrTiO₃ on (0001) c-axis sapphire using a γ-Al₂O₃ intermediate layer,” APL Materials 13 (7), 071124 (2025).
• Rui Liu, Anna Gura, Theodore Sauyet, Yugang Zhang, Lutz Wiegart, Andrei Fluerasu, Matthew Dawber, ​“Dynamics of Thermally Driven Domain Transformation in Ferroelectric Thin Films,” Physical Review Letters 134, 056801 (2025).
• Rui Liu, Tesia D. Janicki, Samuel D. Marks, Deepankar Sri Gyan, Peng Zuo, Donald E. Savage, Tao Zhou, Zhonghou Cai, Martin Holt, Serkan Butun, Shaoning Lu, Nasir Basit, Xiaobing Hu, Tirzah Abbott, Nathaniel Kabat, Wei Li, Qian Li, Kyle P. Kelley, Rama K. Vasudevan, J. R. Schmidt, Susan E. Babcock, Paul G. Evans, ​“Optical and electronic functionality arising from controlled defect formation in nanoscale complex oxide lateral epitaxy,” Science Advances 10, eadk5509 (2024).
• Miguel A. Betancourt-Ponce^#, Rui Liu^#, Jian Sun, Paul G. Evans, Padma Gopalan, ​“Patterning and epitaxy of large-area arrays of nanoscale complex oxide epitaxial heterostructures,” APL Materials 12, 051123 (2024).
• Rui Liu^*, Omar Elleuch, Zhongyi Wan, Peng Zuo, Tesia D. Janicki, Adam D. Alfieri, Susan E. Babcock, Donald E. Savage, J. R. Schmidt, Paul G. Evans, Thomas F. Kuech, ​“Phase Selection and Structure of Low-Defect-Density γ-Al₂O₃ Created by Epitaxial Crystallization of Amorphous Al₂O₃,” ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 12, 57598–57608 (2020).
• Rui Liu, Jeffrey G. Ulbrandt, Hsiang-Chun Hsing, Anna Gura, Benjamin Bein, Alec Sun, Charles Pan, Giulia Bertino, Amanda Lai, Kaize Cheng, Eli Doyle, Kenneth Evans-Lutterodt, Randall L. Headrick, Matthew Dawber, ​“Role of ferroelectric polarization during growth of highly strained ferroelectric materials,” Nature Communications 11, 2630 (2020).

Full publication list see google scholar.

Patents:

• Chang-Beom Eom, Rui Liu, Paul G. Evans, Donald E. Savage, Thomas F. Kuech, ​“Low defect density gamma-Al₂O₃ substrates for heteroepitaxial synthesis,” US Patent 11,879,185 B2, issued January 23, (2024).

Awards:

• PSE Early Investigator Named Award, FY2027

Current Students/Postdocs:

• Zachary LaDuca — Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Research Topic: Epitaxial synthesis of functional oxides and in situ characterization of growth dynamics for autonomous materials discovery.
• Wonwoo Lee — Postdoctoral Researcher
  • Research Topic: Nanofabrication and integration of ferroelectric materials into electro-optic devices for quantum transduction.
• Rui Liang — Graduate Student (co-advised with Sangkee Min, University of Wisconsin–Madison)
  • Research Topic: X-ray nanoprobe microscopy of surface and near-surface effects in single-crystal wafers.
• Asad Imam — Undergraduate Intern (DOE-SULI, 2026 Summer & Fall )
  • Research Topic: Large language models for predicting functional metastable materials.

Former Students/Postdocs:

• Alecsander Haake-Guzman — Undergraduate Intern (DOE-CCI, 2026 Spring)
  • Research Topic: AI-driven autonomous synthesis using machine-learning models for materials discovery
• Rosemarie Elizabeth Hunter — Undergraduate Intern (DOE-SULI, 2026 Summer)
  • Research Topic: Multimodal machine learning combining electron and X-ray diffraction to characterize thin-film growth.
• Jack Johnson — Undergraduate Intern (DOE Genesis, 2026 Summer)
  • Research Topic: Modeling ferroelectric–plasmonic metamaterials for enhanced electro-optic interactions and quantum transduction.