News
September 2025
- Our most recent paper entitled Emergent inductance of chiral orbital currents in a bulk ferrimagnet has been accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters. We discovered that a magnetic crystal, Mn₃Si₂Te₆, can act like an inductor, storing energy in its electronic structure rather than in a wire coil. This work highlights a new way that quantum materials can mimic and extend basic circuit functions. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.05492
- We welcome three new members: Joseph Augustine, Bryce Holmes and Una Basta!
August 2025
The DoE project updates: Field-Tailoring Science and Technology for Novel Materials Synthesis has been progressing well (see picture).
February 2025
Gabriel Schebel has been admitted to the University of Colorado physics Ph.D. program. Congratulations, Gabe!
December 2024
Dhruva Anantha Datta has just joined our group. Welcome Dhruva! A graduate student, Dhruva once led development of advanced GEO satellite payloads and CubeSat systems. His unique expertise and strong work ethic will help strengthen our effort in search of novel quantum phases/materials.
August 2024
Our new project entitled "Field-Tailoring Science and Technology for Novel Materials Synthesis" has been funded by DoE.
This project is to advance the science and technology of materials fabrication in magnetic fields via magneto-synthesis. The project consists of two parts: 1. We will develop an innovative Field-Tailoring Technology (FTT) that utilizes a laser molten/floating zone furnace coupled with a superconducting magnet to synthesize materials that are inaccessible via existing techniques. 2. We will establish a novel program of research to advance our fundamental understanding of the key processes and mechanisms of magneto-synthesis.
August 2024
Yu Zhang will work as a postdoc at the Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), joining his fellow alumni Dr. Hao Zheng and Dr. Hengdi Zhao who joined the ANL earlier. Congratulations, Dr. Yu Zhang!
August 12-13, 2024
Workshop on Loop Current in Quantum Materials 2024
April 2024
Yu Zhang successfully passed his PhD defense. Congratulations, Dr. Zhang!
December 2023
Yifei Ni successfully passed his PhD defense. Congratulations, Dr. Ni !
November 2023
Prof. Gang Cao serves as the first Chair of the Executive Committee for the newly established APS Topical Group on Quantum Materials Synthesis (GQMS)
Feburary 2023
The 2023 Boulder Workshop on Quantum Materials Synthesis will be held at University of Colorado Boulder in July 26-29, 2023. It is sponsored by the National Science Foundation and University of Colorado Boulder.
January, 2023
After completing his extraordinarily sucessful PhD research (with 20 publications), Dr. Hengdi Zhao will take a postition at Argonne National Laboratory as a postdoc in March 2023.
November 2022
PhysicsWorld publishes a story on our recent work.
Hengdi Zhao successfully passed his PhD defense. Congratulations, Dr. Zhao!
October 2022
Our recent discovery is highlighted in CU Boulder Today:
Physicists probe ‘astonishing’ morphing properties of honeycomb-like material
August 2022
Our most recent paper entitled Control of chiral orbital currents in a colossal magnetoresistance material is published in Nature 611, 467–472 (2022) https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05262-3
This work demonstrats current-control of chiral-orbital-current-enabled colossal magnetoresistance and offers a new paradigm for quantum technologies.
April 2022
Prof. Cao’s single-investigator grant from the NSF Division of Materials Research was renewed in April 2022 for four full years. This award marks 20 years of the NSF continuous support of Prof. Cao's individual research program started in 2002.