Brief Vita

I obtained my PhD in Physics in December 2005 from University of Texas at Austin with Prof. John B Goodenough. Then, I became a Postdoctoral Associate at National High Magnetic Field Lab/Florida Sate University with Prof. C. R. Wiebe. In August 2008, I obtained a position as assistant scholar/scientist in NHMFL. I became an Assistant Professor in the Physics Department at UTK in August 2012 and was promoted to Full Professor in August 2023. For a full CV, including full publications record, see here.

Research

Almost every new technological innovation depends heavily upon the discovery of new materials and new novel physical properties. The discovery of many extraordinary properties of transition-metal oxides (TMOs), such as high-Tc superconductivity, CMR effect, and multi-ferroelectric effect, or the so called “strongly correlated systems”, has opened many new fields in condensed matter physics. Recently, new “quantum states of matter” are coming increasingly to the fore in modern condensed-matter physics. Two celebrated examples are topological insulator and quantum spin liquid. The understandings of the strongly correlated spin/orbital/lattice couplings and the quantum phase coherence in all these materials are not only of fundamental importance but also potentially useful for applications. My main research interests are to discovery new materials possessing abnormal physical properties, such as geometrically frustrated magnetism showing quantum spin behaviors, multiferroicity, orbital ordering, and metal-insulator transitions. The strategies are to grow single crystals of them, and study them by x-ray scattering, low temperature and high magnetic field measurements, and neutron scattering. We expect our studies will advance the understanding of strongly correlated systems and quantum matters. For full statement of research interests, see here.

Selected Honors

• Fellow of the American Physical Society (2024)
• UT College of Arts and Sciences Award for Excellence in Research/Creative Achievement (2017)
• National Science Foundation Early Career Award (2014)

For Prospective Students

A couple of positions are immediately available for highly motivated graduate and undergraduate students who are interested in growing single crystals of novel materials and study them with different techniques. If interested, please e-mail or call me.

Selected Recent Publications

Google Scholar Profile

1. C. Xing, S. Zhang, W. Yao, D. Cui, Q. Huang, J. Yang, S. Pandey, D. Dong, L. Horak, Y. Xin, E. S. Choi, Y. Zhang, H. D. Zhou, and J. Liu, Anomalous proximitized transport in metal/quantum magnet heterostructure Bi₂Ir₂O₇/Yb₂Ti₂O₇, Physical Review Materials 8, 114407 (2024).
2. A. Brassington, Q. Ma, G. Slal, A. I. Kolesnikov, K. M. Taddei, Y. Wu, E. S. Choi, H. Wang, W. Xie, J. Ma, H. D. Zhou, and A. A. Aczel, Magnetic properties of the quasi-XY Shastry-Sutherland magnet Er₂Be₂SiO₇, Physical Review Materials 8, 094001(1-15) (2024).
3. A. F. Fuentes, E. C. Quinn, S. M, Montemayor, H. D. Zhou, M. Lang, and R. C. Ewing, Pyrochlore type lanthanide titanates and zirconates: synthesis, structural, peculiarities, and properties, Applied Physics Reviews 11, 021337(1-41) (2024).
4. H. Wang, L. Chen, A. Rutherford, H. D. Zhou, and W. Xie, Long range structural order in a hidden phase of Ruddlesden-Popper bylayer nickelate La₃Ni₂O₇, Inorganic Chemistry 63, 5020-5026 (2024).
5. A. Brassington, Q. Huang, A. A. Aczel, and H. D. Zhou, Synthesis and magnetic properties of the Shastry-Sutherland family R₂Be₂SiO₇ (R = Nd, Sm, Gd-Yb), Physical Review Materials 8, 014005(1-8) (2024).
6. N. Li, R. R. Neumann, S. K. Guang, Q. Huang, J. Liu, K. Xia, X. Y. Yue, Y. Sun, Y. Y. Wang, Q. J. Li, Y. Jiang, J. Fang, J. Jiang, X. Zhao, A. Mook, J. Henk, I. Mertig, H. D. Zhou, and X. F. Sun, Magnon-phonon driven thermal hall effect in a Heisenberg-Kitaev antiferromagnet, Physical Review B 108, L140402(1-6) (2023).
7. W. Yao, Q. Huang, T. Xie, A. Podlesnyak, A. Brassington, C. Xing, R. S. D. Mudiyanselage, W. Xie, S. Zhang, M. Lee, V. S. Zapf, X. Bai, D. A. Tennant, J. Liu, and H. D. Zhou, Continuous spin excitations in the three-dimensional frustrated magnet K₂Ni₂(SO₄)₃, Physical Review Letters 131, 146701(1-7) (2023).
8. L. Xiang, R. Dhakal, M. Ozerov, Y. Jiang, B. S. Mou, A. Ozarowski, Q. Huang, H. D. Zhou, J. Fang, S. M. Winter, Z. Jiang, and D. Smirnov, Disorder-enriched magnetic excitations in a Heisenberg-Kitaev quantum amgnet Na₂Co₂TeO₆, Physical Review Letters 131, 076701(1-6) (2023).
9. H. Zhang, C. K. Xing, K. Noordhoek, Z. Liu, T. Zhao, L. Horak, Q. Haung, L. Hao, J. Yang, S. Pandey, E. Dagotto, Z. Jiang, J. H. Chu, Y. Xin, E. S. Choi, H. D. Zhou, and J. Liu, Anomalous magnetoresistance by breaking ice rule in Bi₂Ir₂O₇/Dy₂Ti₂O₇ heterostructure, Nature Communications 14, 1014(1-7) (2023).
10. M. Shu, W. Dong, J. Jiao, J. Wu, G. Lin, Y. Kamiya, T. Hong, H. Cao, M. Matsuda, W. Tian, S. Chi, Z. Quyang, H. Chen, Y. Zou, Z. Qu, Q. Huang, H. D. Zhou, and J. Ma, Static and dynamical properties of the spin-5/2 nearly ideal triangular lattice antiferromagnet Ba₃MnSb₂O₉, Physical Review B 108, 174424(1-12) (2023)