Postdoc - Physics
University of Pennsylvania - 2014
Fan Zhang
Associate Professor of Physics
Professional Preparation
Ph.D. - Physics
University of Texas at Austin - 2011
University of Texas at Austin - 2011
B.S. - Physics
University of Science and Technology of China - 2006
University of Science and Technology of China - 2006
Publications
Observation of acoustic valley vortex states and valley-chirality locked beam splitting 2017 - Journal Article
Awards
CAREER Award - NSF [2020]
News Articles
Scientist To Delve Deep into Quantum Physics with NSF CAREER Award
Dr. Fan Zhang, associate professor of physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at The University of Texas at Dallas, has received a National Science Foundation (NSF) Faculty Early Career Development Program (CAREER) award for his research in the complex realm of quantum physics.The five-year grant will support Zhang’s theoretical work and education outreach on the fundamental physics of topological superconductivity.
Zhang’s research builds on the science of topological insulators, which are materials that behave like insulators in their interiors but are conductors on their exteriors. His NSF project involves investigating the topological properties of superconductors — materials in which, below a certain critical temperature, electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled.
Physicists Find Misaligned Carbon Sheets Yield Unparalleled Properties
A material composed of two one-atom-thick layers of carbon has grabbed the attention of physicists worldwide for its intriguing — and potentially exploitable — conductive properties.Dr. Fan Zhang, assistant professor of physics in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at The University of Texas at Dallas, and physics doctoral student Qiyue Wang published an article in June with Dr. Fengnian Xia’s group at Yale University in Nature Photonics that describes how the ability of twisted bilayer graphene to conduct electrical current changes in response to mid-infrared light.
University Physicists Demonstrate Negative Refraction Without Reflection
Physicists at The University of Texas at Dallas and Wuhan University have created an artificial structure that does not reflect sound and bends it in a way that does not occur in nature.The results could inspire new directions in wave manipulation, such as acoustic cloaking technologies, and advances in photonics and electronics, said Dr. Fan Zhang, assistant professor of physics at UT Dallas and one of the authors of the study published in Nature.
Physicists Decipher Electronic Properties of Materials in Work That May Change Transistors
UT Dallas physicists have published new findings examining the electrical properties of materials that could be harnessed for next-generation transistors and electronics.Dr. Fan Zhang, assistant professor of physics, and senior physics student Armin Khamoshi recently published their research on transition metal dichalcogenides, or TMDs, in the journal Nature Communications. Zhang is a co-corresponding author, and Khamoshi is a co-lead author of the paper, which also includes collaborating scientists at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.
Creation of Weak Materials Offers Strong Possibilities for Electronics
New fundamental research by UT Dallas physicists may accelerate the drive toward more advanced electronics and more powerful computers. The scientists are investigating materials called topological insulators, whose surface electrical properties are essentially the opposite of the properties inside.
“These materials are made of the same thing throughout, from the interior to the exterior,” said Dr. Fan Zhang, assistant professor of physics at UT Dallas. “But, the interior does not conduct electrons — it’s an insulator — while the electrons on the surface are free to move around. The surface is therefore a conductor, like a metal, but it is in fact more robust than a metal.”