Welcome to the Jun Zhu Lab at Penn State

We are a condensed matter experimental group that focuses  on the exploration of fundamental and novel electronic properties of low-dimensional materials and their nanostructures. Our current research interests include two-dimensional layered materials such as graphene and transitional metal chalcogenides. We are interested in manipulating the multiple internal electronic degrees of freedom of the materials to explore the formation of collective phenomena, such as the quantum Hall and fractional quantum Hall effects in a strong magnetic field, and the emergence of one-dimensional chiral and helical edge states as a result of topology. We employ surface functionalization, interface engineering and complex device structures to engineer new properties and device functionalities in layered materials and their heterostructures. Please browse the current and past research topics for more details and contact us if you are interested in joining the lab or starting a collaborative project.  

News in the Zhu Lab

• Patrick Barfield  passed his comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Aug, 2025)

• Ke's paper reporting a new type of two-component fractional quantum Hall effect has been accepted by Phys. Rev. X. Congratulations! (May, 2025)

• Marcus Smith  joins the lab as a REU student. Welcome back! (May, 2025)

• Zach Naumovski joins the lab as a REU student. Welcome! (May, 2025)

• Heung Kit Kenny Yip joins the lab. Welcome! (March, 2025)

• Zack Jernigan passed his comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Aug, 2024)

• Dr. Ke Huang left State College to take on a postdoc position at Stanford University. Congratulations and farewell! (August 2024)

• Dr. Cequn Li left State College to take on a postdoc position at Cornell University. Congratulations and farewell! (July 2024) 

• Ke's paper on high-temperature quantum valley Hall with quantized resistance and a topological switch appears in Science First Release. Congratulations! (July 2024)

• Ke defended his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Huang! (May, 2024)

• Dylan Davenport joins the lab as a REU student. Welcome! (May, 2024)

• Cequn defended his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Li! (May, 2024)

• Patrick Barfield joins the lab. Welcome! (May 2024)

• Marcus Smith joins the lab. Welcome! (Feb 2024)

• Ke was awarded David C. Duncan Graduate Fellowship and W. Donald Miller Grad Fellowship in Physics. Congratulations! (Jan, 2024)

• Cequn was awarded David C. Duncan Graduate Fellowship and W. Donald Miller Grad Fellowship in Physics. Congratulations! (Jan, 2024)

• Hailong's paper on charge oscillations in bilayer graphene  quantum Hall interferometers has been accepted by Nano Lett. Congratulations! (Oct, 2023)

• Zachary Jernigan joins the lab. Welcome! (May, 2023)

• Jun starts her new job as an Associate Editor of Nano Letters. (Jan, 2023)

• Ke and Cequn were awarded David C. Duncan Graduate Fellowship in Physics. Congratulations! (Jan, 2023)

• Cequn's paper on the proximity-induced superconductivity in (Bi,Sb)2Te3/graphene/gallium heterostructures has been accepted by Nat. Mat. Congratulations! (Jan, 2023)

• Hailong's paper on bilayer graphene-based Fabry-Pérot quantum Hall interferometers has been accepted by Nano Lett. Congratulations! (Dec, 2022)

• Monalisa Yadav passed her comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Dec, 2022)

• Chengqi Guo passed her comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Aug, 2022)

• Carlton Drew passed his comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Jul, 2022)

• Ke's paper on the even-denominator fractional quantum Hall states in bilayer graphene has been accepted by PRX. Congratulations! (Jun, 2022)

• Emma and Loc join the lab as REU students and will stay with us for the summer. Welcome! (Jun, 2022)

• Dr. Hailong Fu departed State College to take on faculty position in Zhejiang University. Congratulations and farewell! (Feb, 2022)

• Ke Huang was awarded Downsbrough Department Head's Chair in Physics Fellowship. Congratulations! (Jan, 2022)

• Cequn Li was awarded Downsbrough Department Head's Chair in Physics Fellowship. Congratulations! (Jan, 2022)

• Dr. Yangyang Chen joins the lab. Welcome! (Jan, 2022)

• Nick Mitran joins the lab for REU summer research. Welcome! (Jun, 2021)

• Chengqi Guo joins the lab. Welcome! (May, 2021)

• Hailong's paper on the gapless spin wave in the CAF state in bilayer graphene has been accepted by PRX. Congratulations! (Feb, 2021)

• Monalisa Yadav joins the lab. Welcome! (Feb, 2021)

• Jun elected fellow of the APS. Congratulations! (Sept, 2020)

• Ke Huang passed his comprehensive exam. Congratulations! (Jul, 2020)

• NSF announces the 2020 MRSEC centers!

• Yangyang Chen defended her thesis. Congratulations! (Jun, 2020)

• Ya-Wen Chuang defended her thesis. Congratulations! (Jun, 2020)

• Le Yi joins the lab. Welcome! (Jun, 2020)

• Carlton Drew joins the lab. Welcome! (Jun, 2020)

• Alumnus Dr. Jing Li received an Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers (OCPA). Congratulations! (Oct, 2019)

• Basyirah Zulkifli joins the lab. Welcome! (Feb, 2019)

• Jing's paper on the nu=0 quantum Hall state of bilayer graphene has been accepted by PRL. Congratulations! (Feb, 2019)

• Jing's topological valleytronics paper has been accepted by Science. Congratulations! (Oct, 2018)

• Ke Huang joins the lab. Welcome! (Oct, 2018)

• Da Zhou joins the lab. Welcome! (Aug, 2018)

• Yangyang Chen joins the lab. Welcome! (Sept, 2018)

• Xianzhe Zeng joins the lab for summer research. Welcome! (Jul, 2018)

• Edward and Louis join the lab. Welcome! (Feb, 2018) 

• Our new website is launched! (Feb, 2018)

• Cequn Li joins the lab. Welcome! (Jan, 2018)

• Eberly postdoc fellow Hailong Fu joins the lab. Welcome! (Aug, 2017)

• Jing defended his PhD dissertation. Congratulations, Dr. Li! (Aug, 2017)