It is vitally important to connect nano research to our great Houston community! At East Bernard High School where Lissa graduate, the colorful quantum dots and the exciting research experience about light-matter interaction encourage students to be enthusiastic about STEM. Everyone is EQUAL in science!
Author Archives: Hanyu
Hanyu wins the Ralph E. Powe Junior Faculty Enhancement Award
Congrats to Alex and Yuxuan for receiving summer research internship!
This summer our talented freshman Alex is selected for a position in the Joint Center for Carbon Nanomaterials, Shandong University & Rice University (JCCN) to study nanomaterials for energy storage. Have a nice trip!
In the same time, Yuxuan is awarded the only MMSNE Summer Research Internship for his research in ultrafast optical spectroscopy in 2D materials. Great job Yuxuan!
Congrats to Ali for receiving the Harrianna Butler Scholarship!
Nice job, Ali, for managing both academic excellence and family responsibility!
More information at Rice Engineering News
Hello world!
The EQUAL lab is now open at Rice MSNE! I feel very proud to start my new career in a brilliant, friendly and productive team. According to the old saying: All beginnings are difficult, this is going to be a challenging and rewarding period. Lucky enough, the lab is not completely empty. And plus, the warm weather is perfect for staying in shape.
Read the original departmental announcement.
Topological Dance of Atoms
For the first time, we have experimentally demonstrated that the vibration of atomic lattice may possess topological attributes. These chiral phonons are promising for quantum memories and transducers (Zhu et al, Science 359, 579).
In a 2D asymmetric hexagonal lattice, such as monolayer WSe2, the atoms rotate, instead of shaking back and forth, for phonons propagating with a momentum of K and -K.
The direction of the rotation is determined by the direction of the momentum, as seen from the circular polarization of the light absorption that excites the phonons.
For more introduction and stories about this research, please visit LBL News Center.
Piezoelectricity in a single molecular layer
Piezoelectric materials, which convert energy between electricity and mechanical force, are the core of clocks, ultrasonics and microbalances. We have experimentally demonstrated that a single-layer crystal of less than 1-nm thick can be piezoelectric, and are tough enough for constructing Nano-ElectroMechanical Systems (Zhu et al, Nature Nanotechnology 10, 151).
The ratio between the in-plane stress and the electric field, i.e. piezoelectric coefficient, for this 2D crystal is comparable with conventional 3D crystals like quartz and AlN. The crystal can be chemically engineered to show out-of-plane piezoelectricity as well (Lu et al, Nature Nanotechnology 12, 744).