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We are hiring! Graduate Student positions available!
Microscopy Hackathon - 2nd place!
Dec 2024 | We are thrilled to learn that our AutoScriptCopilot team (Ben), together with Dr. Xiangyu Yin and Dr. Yi Jiang at Argonne National Lab, won the 2nd place in the AI and ML for Microscopy Hackathon. Thank you very much to the team and organizers for this fun event!
Dr. Jordan Hachtel visit!
Nov 2024 | We are delighted to host Dr. Jordan Hachtel from ORNL, which he gave a pedagogical seminar on advanced low-loss EELS and how it can be applied to solve challenging materials science problems.
New Ga-FIB Installed; Thermo Fisher - USC Workshop
Oct 2024 | We are very excited to have the new TFS Helios 5 UX FIB-SEM at CNI! This will bring the nanocharacterization and TEM specimen preparation capabilities to the cutting edge (pun intended). Meanwhile, we're equally excited to host a 2-day FIB/SEM workshop at our very own CNI center along with Thermo Fisher. Thank you very much for the sponsorship and organizing this exciting event!
Invited talk at FEMMS, Catania
Oct 2024 | Yu-Tsun is delighted to have presented an invited talk at the Frontiers of Electron Microscopy and Materials Science Conference hosted at Catania. It's always fun to learn about exciting research from old and new friends!
DOE Early Career Award
Sep 2024 | Yu-Tsun was selected to receive a DOE Early Career award. Our project will pursue the fundamental understanding of vdW magnets. Thank you very much to the DOE for the support of our work!
New group members!
Aug 2024 | Welcome Pamuk and Ben!
First Group Conference at M&M Cleveland, OH
July 2024 | The group traveled to Cleveland, OH to attend their first-ever Microscopy & Microanalysis conference. The group presented two research posters and one talk: 1) Koushik and Ann presented on the new method for polar domain imaging; 2) Michael presented on identifying topological defects with ML methods. 3) Ting-Ran presented a talk on the atomic details of VHC phase in a multiferroic and won the MSA Student Scholar Award. Congratulations! 🎉
Invited talks at U of Toronto, ORNL
July 2024 | Yu-Tsun is delighted to have presented two invited talks: a seminar at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at University of Toronto, Canada; and at the ICE Workshop hosted at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It's always fun to learn about exciting research from old and new friends!
Student Award!
May 2024 | Ann graduated from USC with an honor of USC Viterbi Trojan Transfer Award. Congratulations! 🎉
Student Research Presentations and Awards!
March 2024 | Koushik and Ann presented their research at the 2024 MFD Research Symposium. Ann won the Undergraduate Poster Award. Congratulations! 🎉
Invited talks at EMA, APS March meetings
Feb & March 2023 | Yu-Tsun is delighted to have presented invited talks at the 1) ACerS Electronic Materials and Applications meeting at Denver, CO; and 2) APS March meeting at Minneapolis, MN. It was fun to meet new friends and learn about their exciting materials research!
Student Awards!
Jan 2024 | Nick wins the CURVE Fellowship. Congratulations! 🎉
Symposium at MRS Fall 2023, Boston
Dec 2023 | Along with 3 other members in team, Yu-Tsun co-organized the Symposium CH04 at MRS Fall 2023 meeting. It's great fun to engage with electron microscopists across the globe and learn about their research insights in probing quantum matter! Thanks for all the amazing talks!
Group trip!
Nov 2023 | We had our very first group trip to the LA Natural History Museum, seems like folks were having great fun geeking out!
Invited talks at Asia (zoom), Caltech
Nov 2023 | Yu-Tsun is delighted to have presented two invited talks: a webinar for microscopists across NUS Singapore, Peking University, Hong Kong Polytech University; and a Materials Research Lecture at Caltech. It's always fun to meet with new folks and be inspired by their exciting research!
New group members!
Oct 2023 | Welcome Yi and Koushik!
Invited talk at UC Irvine
Oct 2023 | Yu-Tsun is delighted to have presented seminar talk at UC Irvine, Department of Materials Science and Engineering. It was fun to meet new friends and learn about their exciting materials research!
Student Awards!
Aug 2023 | Ann, Raina, and Carlos win the CURVE Fellowship. Ting-Ran wins the Taiwan-USC Graduate Scholarship. Congratulations! 🎉
New group members!
Aug 2023 | Welcome Ting-Ran, Ann, Raina, Carlos, and Nicholas!
Invited talks at Microscopy & Microanalysis 2023 Meeting
July 2023 | Yu-Tsun is honored to have presented two invited talks at M&M 2023 at Minneapolis, MN. There were scientific discussions, tears and laughter. It was great catching up with many old friends and meeting new ones!
Invited talks at Max-Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Ringberg Castle
July 2023 | Yu-Tsun is honored to have presented two invited talks at MPI Stuttgart, hosted by the StEM group. It was inspiring to tour the state-of-the-art facilities, also quite some experience to present research in a castle!
Invited Talk at UIUC Workshop on "Emergent Opportunities for Data-Driven Electron Microscopy in Materials Science"
June 2023 | Yu-Tsun gave an invited talk on "Understanding Symmetry, Strain, Polarity and Chirality using Electron Microscopy" at the workshop held at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It was great seeing many friends and presenting at the Alma Mater!
More info about this workshop can be found here
Featured story on USC Viterbi News
April 2023 | Our paper on mapping the topological phase transition in polar merons and skyrmions observed using 4D-STEM got featured on USC Viterbi News. It was a really fun interview experience and explaining exotic phases using an analogy of donuts!
You can read the full story here.
Invited Talk at MRS Spring 2023 San Francisco (Materials Research Society)
April 2023 | Yu-Tsun gave an invited talk on "New Methods for Imaging Polar Topological Textures in Oxide Heterostructures "at the MRS Spring meeting, symposium on "Charged Topological Defects in Functional Materials". It was great seeing many good friends in person!
Invited Talk at TMS 2023 San Diego (The Minerals, Metals & Materials Society)
March 2023 | Yu-Tsun gave an invited talk on "Solving Complex Structures with Electron Ptychography"at the TMS meeting, symposium on "Characterization of Materials through High Resolution Coherent Imaging". It's the first ever TMS meeting attendance from our group!
Paper on Emergent Chirality of Topological Phase Transition in Polar Textures
March 2023 | Using newly developed 4D-STEM diffraction imaging technique (i.e., polarity-sensitive Kikuchi bands), we are able to image each of the topological dipolar textures (such as polar skyrmions and merons) and discovered their phase transitions induced by strain. Furthermore, using chirality sensitive Bijvoet pairs, we are able to image their handedness individually, at sub-nm scale. arXiv; Nature Communications
Two papers published on Nature and Advanced Materials
Feb 2023 | Two of our collaboration projects on (1) studying the polar/anti-polar order in NaNbO3 membranes and (2) understanding the Cu nanostructures during CO2 reduction process got published. Congratulations to the team! Nature; Advanced Materials
Paper featured on Cornell Chronicle
Feb 2023 | Our paper on non-volatile electric-field control of inversion symmetry was featured on Cornell Chronicle. It was a fun interview experience! Congratulations to the team! You can read the full story here
Shao research group starts in sunny California
Jan 2023 | The Shao research lab will keep "finding pebbles" and exploring new phenomena in materials science, by the sea and at the heart of Los Angeles, CA. Read the Viterbi News article here.
Paper on Non-volatile Electric-FIeld Control of Centrosymmetry in Multiferroic Oxides
Oct 2022 | Using BiFeO3 layers confined between layers of the dielectric TbScO3 as a model system, we stabilize the mixed-phase coexistence of antipolar, centrosymmetric and polar, non-centrosymmetric BFO phases at room temperature. Application of in-plane electric fields can interconvert between the two phases, which led to a change of system resistivity by over 5 orders of magnitude, changes in non-linear optical response by 3 orders of magnitude. arXiv; Nature Materials; Cornell Chronicle
Two papers on Demonstrating Scanning Electron NanoDiffraction (4D-STEM) in Liquid
Aug 2022 | Understanding the dynamic evolution of catalysts at the nanoscale were previously limited to probing changes in their morpholology, composition, or ion distribution with conventional electron microscopy methods. Using a fast direct electron detector and thin-liquid strategy, we are able to perform in-situ SEND/4D-STEM and uncover additional structural information such as crystallographic orientations during the electrochemical process in nano catalysts. JACS; ACS Energy Letter
Three papers on van der Waals, Polar Magnetic Metal Published
April 2022 | Using atomic resolution STEM and Lorentz 4D-STEM imaging, we imaged the atomic structure of a newly-synthesized 2D ferromagnet, (FexCo1-x)5GeTe2, and discovered Neel-type magnetic skyrmions at room temperature. This paves the way for potential applications in next generation nanodevices. Science Advances; Physical Review Materials; Physical Review Letters
Researchers see atoms at record resolution
May 2021 | Using a newly-designed detector and sophisticated algorithms to disentangle the multiple electron scattering in the sample, we have been able to reconstruct atomic resolution images down to a resolution set by the thermal vibrations of the atoms themselves. Science;
You can also read the feature artice by Scientific American here
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