profile-default

Lian Li

Adjunct Professor
Physics
 KEN 4047
Adjunct Faculty

Website: https://uwm.edu/lianliresearchgroup

Research

Professor Li conducts research to unveil structure and property relationships of condensed matter at atomic scale. Current focus is the epitaxial growth of graphene, topological insulators, Fe-based superconductors, 2D transition metal dichalcogenides, and the application of atomic scale imaging and spectroscopic techniques to gain new insights into the emergent quantum behavior of matter from the interplay of strain, proximity, correlations, and spin-orbit interactions. The research is currently supported by grants from NSF and DOE.

Biographical Sketch

Lian Li received his BSc in Physics from Yunnan University, China in 1983, and MSc in the same field from Tongji University, China in 1987, and his PhD in Solid State Physics from Arizona State University in 1995. He then received a Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science to conduct research at the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Japan from 1995 to 1996. He held a staff research associate position at the University of California, Los Angeles from 1996 to 1999. He joined the UWM Physics department in 1999, where he currently holds the rank of Professor. In 2006, he was a visiting professor at the Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Japan.

Professor Li has received many awards including an E. W. Müller Outstanding Young Scientist Award from the International Field Emission Society (1996), a NSF CAREER Award (2001), and a UWM Research Foundation Research Award (2014).

Selected Publications

Rajput, S., Li, Y. Y., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Indirect Interlayer Bonding in Graphene-Topological Insulator van der Waals Heterostructure: Giant Spin-Orbit Splitting of the Graphene Dirac States.” ACS Nano 10. (2016): 8450.
Liu, Y., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Determining charge state of graphene vacancy by noncontact atomic force microscopy and first-principles calculation.” Nanotechnology 26. (2015): 035702.
Liu, Y., Li, Y. Y., Rajput, S., Gilks, D., Lari, L., Galindo, P. L., Weinert, M, Lazarov, V. K., and Li, Lian. “Tuning Dirac states by strain in the topological insulator Bi2Se3.” Nature Physics 10. (2014): 294-299.
Li, C. H., van ‘t Erve, O. M., Robinson, J. T., Liu, Y., Li, Lian, and Jonker, B. T. “Electrical detection of charge-current-induced spin polarization due to spin-momentum locking in Bi2Se3.” Nature Nanotechnology 9. (2014): 218-224.
Li, Y. Y., Chen, M. X., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Direct experimental determination of onset of electron-electron interactions in gap opening of zigzag graphene nanoribbons.” Nature Communications 5. (2014): 4311.
Tomer, D., Rajput, S., Hudy, L., Li, C. H., and Li, Lian. “Intrinsic inhomogeneity in barrier height at monolayer graphene/SiC Schottky junction.” Applied Physics Letters 105. (2014): 021607.
Rajput, S., Li, Y. Y., , and Li, Lian. “Direct experimental evidence for the reversal of carrier type upon hydrogen intercalation in epitaxial graphene/SiC(0001).” Applied Physics Letters 104. (2014): 041908.
Rajput, S., Chen, M., Liu, Y., Li, Y. Y., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Spatial fluctuations in barrier height at the graphene–silicon carbide Schottky junction.” Nature Communications 4.2752 (2013).
Liu, Y., Li, Y. Y., Gilks, D., Lazarov, V. K., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Charging Dirac states at antiphase domain boundaries in the three-dimensional topological insulator Bi2Se3.” Physical Review Letters 110.186804 (2013).
Liu, Y., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Spiral growth without dislocations: Molecular beam epitaxy of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 on epitaxial graphene/SiC(0001).” Physical Review Letters 108.115501 (2012).
Qi, Y., Rhim, S. H., Sun, G. F., Weinert, Michael T., and Li, Lian. “Epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001): more than just honeycombs.” Physical Review Letters 105.085502 (2010).
Sun, G. F., Jia, J. F., Xue, Q. K., and Li, Lian. “Atomic-scale imaging and manipulation of ridges on epitaxial graphene on 6H-SiC(0001).” Nanotechnology 20.35 (2009): 355701.
King, S. T., Weinert, M., and Li, Lian. “Atomistic View of the Autosurfactant Effect during GaN Epitaxy.” Physical Review Letters 98.206106 (2007).