Dr. Yue Cao studies the emergent properties in a wide range of materials using a handful of X-ray methods, including angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), (resonant) inelastic X-ray scattering (IXS/RIXS) and coherent X-ray diffraction (CXD). His research interest covers 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.

Professional Experience

• 2018-                Assistant Physicist, Argonne National Laboratory 
• 2014-2018        Research Associate, 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. Yue Cao, Dina Sheyfer, Zhang Jiang, et al. The Effect of Intensity Fluctuations on Sequential X-ray Photon Correlation Spectroscopy at the X-ray Free Electron Laser Facilities. Crystals 10, 1109 (2020).
2. Yue Cao, Tadesse Assefa, Soham Banerjee, et al. Complete Strain Mapping of Nanosheets of Tantalum Disulfide. ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 12, 43173-43179 (2020).
3. T. A. Assefa, Y. Cao, J. Diao, et al. Scaling behavior of low-temperature orthorhombic domains in the prototypical high-temperature superconductor La_2-xBa_xCuO₄.Phys. Rev. B 101, 054104 (2020).
4. Tadesse A. Assefa, Yue Cao, Soham Banerjee, et al. Ultrafast x-ray diffraction study of melt-front dynamics in polycrystalline thin films. Science Advances 6, eaax2445 (2020).
5. T. T. Zhang, H. Miao, Q. Wang, et al. Phononic Helical Nodal Lines with PT Protection in MoB₂. Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 245302 (2019).
6. T. J. Reber, X. Zhou, N. C. Plumb, et al. A unified form of low-energy nodal electronic interactions in hole-doped cuprate superconductors. Nature Communications 10, 5737 (2019).
7. Yue Cao, D. G. Mazzone, I. Jarrige, J. P. Hill, S. Wall & M. P. M. Dean. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A 377, 20170480 (2019).
8. X. M. Chen, C. Mazzoli, Yue Cao, et al. Charge density wave memory in a cuprate superconductor. Nature Communications 10: 1435 (2019).
9. D. Meyers, Yue Cao, G. Fabbris et al. Magnetism in artificial Ruddlesden-Popper iridates leveraged by structural distortions. Scientific Reports 9, 4263 (2019).
10. V. Thampy, X. M. Chen, Y. Cao et al. Static Charge-density-wave Order in the Superconducting State of La_2−xBa_xCuO₄. Phys. Rev. B 95, 241111 (2017).
11. Yue Cao, Xuerong Liu, Wenhu Xu, et al. Giant Spin Gap and Magnon Localization in the Disordered Heisenberg Antiferromagnet Sr₂Ir_1-xRu_xO₄. Phys. Rev. B 95, 121103 (2017).
12. 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. Nature Materials 15, 601-605 (2016).
13. 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. Nature Communications 7:11367 (2016).
14. Q. Wang, Y. Cao, J. A. Waugh, et al. Dimensionality-controlled Mott transition and correlation effects in single-layer and bilayer perovskite iridates. Phys. Rev. B 87, 245109 (2013).
15. Y. Cao, J. A. Waugh, X.-W. Zhang, et al. Mapping the orbital wavefunction of the surface states in three-dimensional topological insulators. Nature Physics 9, 499-504 (2013).
16. S. R. Park, Y. Cao, Q. Wang, et al. Broken relationship between superconducting pairing interaction and electronic dispersion kinks in La_2−xSr_xCuO₄ measured by angle-resolved photoemission. Phys. Rev. B 88, 220503 (2013).