Long Ju
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Citation: For his great advances in the study of the topological properties (topological states and excitations) of graphene using novel optical and electronic probes. 

Bio: Long Ju joined the MIT Physics Department as an assistant professor in January 2019. He received his B.S. in Physics in 2009 from Tsinghua University, China. He got his Ph.D. in Physics in 2015 from the University of California, Berkeley where he worked with Prof. Feng Wang. He then moved to Cornell University, where he was a Kavli postdoctoral fellow until December 2018 working with Prof. Paul McEuen and Prof. Jiwoong Park.

Research of Long Ju focuses on understanding light-matter interactions in novel quantum materials. Of particular interest are atomically thin materials and van der Waals hetero-structures of them. These materials host a variety of fascinating electronic and optical properties individually, and they offer exciting opportunities to explore possibilities enabled by controlling the stacking order and electrically tuning the band structure and charge doping. Especially, such materials provide a new platform to design and engineer more exotic quantum phenomena when electron correlations and topology are included. He developed problem-oriented experiments combining optical spectroscopy and (scanning) microscopy tools, device fabrication and electron transport measurements. Key results include 1. Demonstration for the first time the extraordinarily strong and tunable light-plasmon coupling in graphene with unconventional scaling laws; 2. Demonstration of topological valley transport at the AB-BA stacking domain walls in bilayer graphene; 3. Observation of exciton states in bilayer graphene with ultra-sharp linewidths, widely tunable energy, unconventional selection rule and large magnetic moments; 4. First spectroscopy evidence of strong electron correlations in the ABC trilayer graphene/hBN moire superlattice.

Many colleagues consider Dr. Ju to be a rising star in condensed matter physics. This is reflected in the recognition he has received, including the 2022 Sloan Fellowship, the 2015 Kavli ENSI Thesis Prize Award, UC Berkeley, the 2014 Kavli Postdoctoral Fellowship (Cornell University) and the Pappalardo Fellowship (MIT).