Recent news

03/2023 Tiema Travels to Las Vegas and presents a nice talk on the magnetic dilution effect on MnBi2Te4 at 2023 APS March meeting.
02/2023 Congrats to Tiema for receiving the APS DMP Ovshinsky Travel Award!
03/2023 Prof. Ni was elected as the Secretary/Treasurer for the APS Division of Materials Physics.
01/2023 Prof. Ni gave an invited seminar at UC-Davis on tuning the interplay of magnetism and band topology in intrinsic topological insulators MnBi2nTe3n+1.
11/2022 Prof. Ni gave the UCSB Materials colloquium talk on tuning the interplay of magnetism and band topology in intrinsic topological insulators MnBi2nTe3n+1.
11/2022 J went to Oak Ridge national Lab to perform neutron scattering experiments.
10/2022 J attended the "Magnetic Structrue Determination from Neutron Diffraction Data" workshop held in Oak Ridge national Lab.
10/2022 Congrats to Prof. Ni for her election as an APS fellow.
09/2022 Prof. Ni attended the Symposium on Quantum Materials Synthesis 2022 at Maui and gave an invited talk on the Synthesis and investigation of the intrinsic magnetic topological insulator family.
08/2022 Prof. Ni gave an invited virtual talk on intrinsic magnetic topological insulators in the 15th Asia Pacific Physics Conference.

07/2022 Congrats to Tiema and Chaowei for the publication of the magnetic dilution effect and topological phase transitions in MnBi2Te4 on PRB. Thanks to the great collaborations with Tayrong's team and Huibo's team.
06/2022 Congrats to Tiema, Eve, Chaowei and J for the publication of the pressure work on Sb-MnBi4Te7 on Nano. Lett. Big thanks to Igor for helping us understand the pressure-driven metamagnetic transitions in Sb-MnBi4Te7.

06/2022 Chaowei successfully defended his Ph. D. Congrats, Dr. Hu! And good luck to your future career at UW-Seattle.
05/2022 Prof. Ni gave an invited talk "Tuning the interplay of magnetism and band topology in intrinsic magnetic topological insulators" virtually at MRS Spring Meeting, Honolulu, HI

05/2022 Tiema and Prof. Ni attended the International Workshop "Experimental Advances in the Use of Pressure and Strain to Probe and Control Quantum Matter" (PSQM-2022) at Ames, IA. Tiema presented a poster on his nice strain work on CsV3Sb5 and Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on intrinsic magnetic topological insulators.
03/2022 Thanks to the Julian Schwinger Foundation for supporting Chaowei's three-month research in TopoXu Lab at Harvard.
03/2022 Prof. Ni gave an invited talk "Tuning the interplay of magnetism and band topology in magnetic topological materials" virtually at APS March Meeting, Chicago, IL.
03/2022 Chaowei and Tiema traveled to Chicago and presented their talks in the 2022 APS March Meeting.
01/2022 Congratulations to Chaowei for receiving the DMP Ovshinsky Student Travel Award from APS.

12/2021 Congratulations to Prof. Ni for receiving the Outstanding Teaching Award from the department!

10/2021 Congratulations to Tiema! His work which uses uniaxial strain to investigate the interplay of charge-density-wave and superconductivity in CsV3Sb5 was accepted by Phys. Rev. B and selected as the Editors' suggestion. https://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.104.144506

09/2021 Congratulations to Tiema for passing his Qualifying Oral Exam!

07/2021 Our collaborative work on the discovery of the layer Hall effect in an even-layered 2D MnBi2Te4 device was published in Nature. Congrats to Chaowei, Anyuan, Suyang, Qiong, et. al! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-03679-w

07/2021 Congrats to Tiema! His first first-author paper on the strain effect on CsV3Sb5 was announced in arXiv. Good job!

06/2021 Congrats to Chaowei for being selected as the UCLA dissertation year fellow!

05/2021 Prof. Ni gave an IMS Sponsored Distinguished Lecture on Topological Materials "MnBi2Te4.nBi2Te3: a happy marriage of magnetism and topology"
at LANL.

04/2021 Prof. Ni gave a virtual invited talk "MnBi2Te4.nBi2Te3: a happy marriage of magnetism and topology"
at 2021 virtual MRS meeting & exhibit. 

04/2021 Prof. Ni gave a virtual invited seminar "MnBi2Te4.nBi2Te3: a happy marriage of magnetism and topology"
at George Mason University

03/2021 Prof. Ni gave a virtual invited colloquium "MnBi2Te4.nBi2Te3: the perfect marriage of magnetism and topology"
at Boston College.
03/2021 Chaowei delivered a virtual talk "Switching on ferromagnetic coupling by Mn/Sb antisite disorder in Mn(Bi1-xSbx)4Te7" in March Meeting 2021. Nice talk!

12/2020 Eve's has discovered a chiral superconductor NbGe2 with Kramers-Weyl fermions. The work was selected as the Editors' suggestion in Phys. Rev. B. Congrats!

12/2020 Tiema has received the TA award with a generous check from our lovely department, congrats!

10/2020 Welcome Eve for the new role as the postdoctoral researcher in the lab!

09/2020 Prof. Ni gave an invited virtual seminar "MnBi2Te4.nBi2Te3: the perfect marriage of magnetism and topology" at Northeastern University.

09/2020 Big congrats and hugs to Tiema and Tianci for passing their comprehensive exams!

09/2020 Welcome Jacklyn Zhu as a new undergraduate researcher!

09/2020 Chaowei has been awarded the prestigious Julian Schwinger graduate fellowship! Congratulations, Chaowei! We are so proud of you! https://schwingerfoundation.org/announce.php 

07/2020 Check out the news on our discovery of intrinsic magnetic topological insulators MnBi4Te7 and MnBi8Te13. https://www.physicalsciences.ucla.edu/news/

07/2020 Our work on the discovery of the first intrinsic ferromagnetic axion topological insulator MnBi8Te13 is published on Science Advances. Congrats to Chaowei, Scott, and Jinyu!
https://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/30/eaba4275

07/2020 Our work on a Kitaev material candidate YbCl3 is published on Physical Review B. Congrats to Jie! https://journals.aps.org/prb/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevB.102.014427

06/2020 Our work on EuAg4As2 with an incommensurate non-collinear magnetic structure is published on Physical Review Materials. Congrats to Bing and Chaowei! https://journals.aps.org/prmaterials/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.4.064419

06/2020 Eve successfully defended her thesis. Congratulations, Dr. Emmanouilidou! We are so proud of you. 

02/2020 Ni gave invited talks at MIT and Harvard one week before the breakout of COVID19 at Boston.

01/2020 Chaowei's work on the discovery of a Z2 antiferromagnetic topological insulator MnBi4Te7 with weak interlayer magnetic coupling is published on Nature Communications. Congrats! https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-019-13814-x                               

11/2019 Prof. Ni is one of the 47 UCLA scientists who are selected as the 2019 Thomson Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, which recognizes the top 1% highly cited researchers. See the university news at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/ucla-scientists-among-worlds-most-influential-scholars-based-on-citations-2019      

07/2019 Congrats to Chaowei for passing his Ph. D qualifying oral exam!                                                                                                                                                        

03/2019 Jinyu and Prof. Ni went to Boston for the MURI annual review on our high thermal conductivity material project. We visited our co-PI Prof. Gang Chen’s lab at MIT. Thanks for hosting, Prof. Chen!

03/2019 Our collaborative work on the Weyl semimetal TaAs with the Burch group at Boston College is online on Nature Materials. This work discovered that TaAs has a colossal bulk photovoltaic effect, which generates current from light more than ten times larger than ever previously achieved. The findings may offer a new route to efficient generation of electricity from light, as well as for thermal or chemical sensing.                                                                                                                                       

03/2019 Chaowei and Jinyu went to National High magnetic Field lab at Tallahassee, FL to investigate magnetotransport properties of various topological and frustrated magnetic materials.                    

02/2019 Eleni Kyriazi joined our group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome!                                                                                                                                            

01/2019 Our collaborative work with Prof. Liling Sun’s group on the type-II Weyl semimetal TaIrTe4 measured up to 65.7 GPa is published on PRB Rapid. The work shows that pressure-induced distortion in TaIrTe4 is responsible for the change of topology of the Fermi surface, and such a change favors the emergence of superconductivity. Thank you Liling and all collaborators for such beautiful pressure work!

11/2018 Prof. Ni gave an invited physics seminar on magnetism, superconductivity and non-trivial topology in quantum materials at  UCSC.                                                  

11/2018 Dr. Jie Xing left the group and took a postdoc position at ORNL. It was a pleasure to have Jie in the group. Best wishes to his new adventure and career!               

10/2018 Prof. Ni gave a Materials Science Research Lecture on superconductivity and non-trivial topology in quantum materials at Caltech.                                                  

10/2018 Prof. Ni gave a colloquium on magnetism, superconductivity and non-trivial topology in quantum materials at our department. 

10/2018 Harlan Brawer joined our group as an undergraduate researcher. Welcome!                                                                                                                                         

08/18/2018 We organized an outreach event "Science for Kids" at the Westfield Culver City mall, aiming to help the kids understand how the discovery of new materials and their functions have shaped our everyday life. Interactive demonstrations such as "superconducting ping-pong game", "waterpark on hydrophobic surfaces", etc. were shown. See department news. http://www.pa.ucla.edu/content/science-kids-outreach-program                                             

08/01/2018 Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on layered metal pnictides in the workshop of Synthesis and exotic physics of novel quantum materials at Ames to celebrate the 25-year anniversary of Canfield’s group. It was a great academic family reunion.

06/20/2018 Yanji Li joined the group as an undergraduate research assistant.

06/12/2018 Dr.Jie Xing attended the WIEN2k workshop held in Boston College.

06/01/2018 Our undergraduate researchers Raj Chaklashiya and Junyi Wu were accepted into the Ph. D program in UCSB and UIUC, respectively. Congrats and wish them all the best!

05/14/2018 Dr.Jie Xing attended the 2018 Summer school in the Maglab, Tallahassee, FL.

03/09/2018 Eve Emmanouilidou, Dr. Jie Xing, Chaowei Hu and Dr. Jinyu Liu presented at the APS March meeting in Los Angeles.

02/11/2018 Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on the experimental exploration of proposed topological semimetals in the workshop of Relativistic Fermions and Nodal Semimetals from Topology at Banff Centre, Canada.

01/10/2018 Dr.Bing Shen has left the lab and become an assistant professor in Zhongshan University, China. Congrats and wish him all the best!

12/05/2017 Prof. Ni is one of the 30 UCLA scientists who are selected as the 2017 Thomson Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, which recognizes the top 1% highly cited researchers. See the university news at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/30-ucla-faculty-on-thomson-reuters-list-of-most-cited-influential-scholars

09/28/2017 Prof. Ni attended the 2nd workshop IMS2017 internet magnetism and superconductivity in Dresden, Germany. Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on recent progress in the 112 and 1144 superconducting families.

09/01/2017 Our new postdoc researcher Dr.Jinyu Liu joined the lab. Welcome, Jinyu!

06/10/2017 Shan Jiang has successfully defended his Ph. D thesis. Congrats, Dr.Jiang!

06/04/2017 Chaowei Hu and Prof. Ni attended the 2017 Gordon Research Conference on Superconductivity in Waterville Valley, NH. Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on

competing orders in the 112 Fe based superconducting family under chemical doping or external pressure.

03/17/2017 Eve Emmanouilidou, Dr.Bing Shen, Dr.Jie Xing and Chaowei Hu presented at the APS March meeting in New Orleans.

01/14/2017 Eve Emmanouilidou and Prof. Ni attended The 37th REIMEI Workshop on Frontiers of Correlated Quantum Matters and Spintronics in Tokai, Ibaraki, Japan. Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on the competing orders in the 112 Fe based superconducting family under chemical doping or external pressure.

10/01/2016 Together with four PIs from Pen State U, Rutgers U and U of Minnesota, we are funded by NSF-DMREF program to look for strongly correlated transparent conductors.

10/01/2016 First-year graduate student Chaowei Hu has joined our group. Welcome, Chaowei!

09/24/2016 Our new postdoc researcher Dr.Xing Jie just joined the lab. Welcome, Jie!

09/01/2016 Ruby Shi, our undergraduate research assistant has moved to Stanford University for her Ph. D study. Congrats and wish her all the best!

08/15/2016 Eve Emmanouilidou has passed her qualifying oral exam and became a PhD candidate. Congrats!

06/01/2016 Together with five PIs from UT Austin, MIT, U of Houston, UIUC and Boston College, we are supported by ONR-MURI program to explore high thermal conductivity materials.

05/01/2016 Raj Chaklashiya and Junyi Wu joined the group as undergraduate researchers.

03/06/2016 Shan Jiang and Dr.Bing Shen presented at the APS March meeting in Baltimore, Maryland. Prof. Ni gave an invited talk on the interplay of structure, magnetism and superconductivity in the 112 Fe based superconducting family.

01/25/2016 Prof. Ni is among 29 UCLA scientists who are selected as the 2015 Thomson Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, which recognizes the top 1% highly cited researchers in the period of 2003 to 2013. See the university news at http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/29-ucla-faculty-on-thomson-reuters-most-cited-list-for-influential-scholarship

07/20/2015 Dr.Bing Shen has joined our lab as a postdoc researcher.

05/2015 Shan Jiang and Eve Emmanouilidou attended the DMREF workshop at TRIUMF in Vancouver.

03/06/2015 Shan Jiang and Prof. Ni presented at the APS March meeting in San Antonio, Texas.

12/2014 Prof. Ni is in the list of the 2014 Thomson Reuters World's Most Influential Scientific Minds, which recognizes the top 1% highly cited researchers in the period of 2002 to 2012.

10/01/2014 Welcome to our lab as a Ph. D candidate, Eve Emmanouilidou!

05/07/2014 Ni received the DOE Early Career Research Award for the proposal “Exploring Superconductivity at the Edge of Magnetic or Structural Instabilities". Thanks to the U.S. Department of Energy for supporting our research!

12/07/2013 Ni went to Chakravarty Fest held in Stanford University. Happy birthday, Prof. Chakravarty!

11/21/2013 Ni gave a colloquium in California State University.

11/15/2013 The first synthesis in our lab is in furnace!

11/14/2013 Both eye wash stations are installed. Now we are allowed to work with chemicals!

11/12/2013 Regulators have arrived and torch system is working now.

11/07/2013 MRF arcmelter is working now.

11/05/2013 Millitorr vacuum is achieved for torch and arcmelter systems.

11/01/2013 Pumping system for both torch and arcmelter systems is set up.

10/28/2013 Empyrean training is ongoing.

10/21/2013 Quantum Design Dynocool PPMS system is working now.

10/11/2013 Glovebox is working now.

10/09/2013 Panalytical Empyrean X-ray diffractometer were successfully installed.

10/07/2013 Ni gave a seminar in Caltech.

10/01/2013 Welcome to Ni lab, Costel Rotundu!

10/01/2013 Furnaces are working now.

10/01/2013 Major lab renovation is done, electricity and water are ready!

09/30/2013 Congratulations, Louis! You passed the comprehensive exam!

09/27/2013 Ni attended ICAM workshop in Boston: Digital Design of Materials.

07/18/2013 Welcome to Ni lab, Louis Yang!

Lab renovation is ongoing for Knudsen Hall A236, 234, 234A and A145...

07/01/2013 Welcome to Ni lab as a Ph. D candidate, Shan Jiang!

07/01/2013 Ni lab is launched! We will focus on the synthesis and characterization of quantum materials with unusual ground states.