Mingmin Yang
mingminyang@hfnl.cn
Education
2014-2018 Ph.D. in [Physics], [the University of Warwick]
2011-2014 Master's Degree in [Material Physics and Chemistry], [Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences]
2007-2011 Bachelor's Degree in [Material Science], [Wuhan University of Technology]
Experience
2022-Present Researcher, Hefei National Laboratory
2021-2022 Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, the University of Warwick
2020-2021 Special Postdoctoral Researcher, Center for Emergent Matter Science, RIKEN
2018-2020 Research Fellow, the University of Warwick
Overview of Academic Research
Our research group addresses the critical demand for efficient information conversion in classical and quantum information networks by conducting pioneering fundamental research on materials, devices, and systems capable of energy conversion. Classical information networks rely on different physical carriers such as electric charges, magnetic domains, light, and acoustic waves, etc for computing, storage, communication, and modulation, respectively. Quantum information networks, on the other hand, encode quantum states into photons, spins, superconducting qubits, semiconductor quantum dots, and diamond color centers, among other quantum systems. Building these information networks requires efficient energy and state transduction across various media.
To meet these challenges, our group focuses on developing novel quantum materials and devices exhibiting exceptional piezoelectric, magnetoelectric, and optoelectronic effects. Based the emergent effects and materials developed in our group, we also explore the device integration technologies for classical and quantum information applications.
Core research directions include:
Novel piezoelectric effects and acoustic devices;
Spintronics/orbitronics and nonlinear transport based on polar metallic materials;
New optoelectronic effects, including flexoelectric photovoltaic, bulk photovoltaic, and circular photogalvanic effects;
Hybrid quantum systems based on phonon and magnon.
In these areas, our group has achieved several groundbreaking results. We proposed and experimentally verified the "interface piezoelectric effect" and "auxetic piezoelectric effect" based on Schottky junctions, significantly expanding the theoretical framework and application scope of piezoelectric effects. We originated the "flexoelectric photovoltaic effect" and demonstrated the "piezoelectric photovoltaic effect" in two-dimensional semiconductor materials, enriching the physical mechanisms and control strategies for optoelectronic conversion. Additionally, we established the "interface pyroelectric effect" based on interfacial polarity, achieving high-performance thermoelectric energy conversion.
Major Honors and Awards
N/A
Representative Publications
1.Ming-Min Yang, Tian-Yuan Zhu, Arne Benjamin Renz, He-Meng Sun, Shi Liu, Peter Michael Gammon & Marin Alexe, “Auxetic piezoelectric effect in heterostructures”, Nature Materials 23, 95-100 (2024).
2.Yu Dong#, Ming-Min Yang#, Mao Yoshii, Satoshi Matsuoka, Sota Kitamura, Tatsuo Hasegawa, Naoki Ogawa, Takahiro Morimoto, Toshiya Ideue, Yoshihiro Iwasa, “Observation of giant bulk piezophotovoltaic effect in 3R-MoS2” Nature Nanotechnology 18, 36-41 (2023, #co-first author)
3.Ming-Min Yang, Zheng-Dong Luo, Zhou Mi, Jinjin Zhao, Sharel Pei E, Marin Alexe, “Piezoelectric and Pyroelectric Effects Induced by Interface Polar Symmetry” Nature 583, 377 (2020)
4.Ming-Min Yang, Marin Alexe, “Solar Energy Harvested with Nanotubes”, Nature 570, 310 (2019).
5.Ming-Min Yang, Affan N. Iqbal, Jonathan J. P. Peter, Ana M. Sanchez, Marin Alexe, “Strain-Gradient Mediated Local Conduction in Strained Bismuth Ferrite Films”, Nature Communications 10, 2791 (2019).
6.Ming-Min Yang#, Dong-Jik Kim#, Marin Alexe, “Flexo-photovoltaic Effect”, Science 360, 904 (2018) (#co-first author).