Rice
FIS

FIS image header
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
Download 
Scholarly Interest Report
         
Pengcheng Dai
Professor
Professor of Physics and Astronomy
 
e-mail:Pengcheng.Dai@rice.edu
 
  • Ph.D experimental condensed matter physics (1993) University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri
  • B.S. Physics (1984) Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China
 
Primary Department
   Department of Physics and Astronomy
Picture
 
Department Affiliations
 
  • Department of Physics and Astronomy
  •  
    Websites
     Pengcheng Dai's group
     Dai group home page
     
    Research Areas
     Experimental condensed matter physics, using neutron as a probe to study correlated electron materials.
     

    Using neutron as a probe to study correlated electron materials

     

    It is well-known that band filling in noninteracting or weakly interacting electron systems determines its electrical transport properties.  An insulator has a completely filled electrons at the highest filled band while a metal has a partially filled band.  For these materials, the metal-insulator transition (MIT) occurs through tuning the top-level electron occupation.  However, for strongly electron interacting systems such as many transition metal oxides (TMOs) with a partially filled d-band, a large Coulomb repulsion between the outer most d-electrons on the same lattice site would split the highest filled band into two: the lower one (lower Hubbard band) corresponds to single electron occupation while the upper one (upper Hubbard band) to double occupation.  With exactly one electron per site (half-filled), the lower Hubbard band is full, and the system forms an insulating state called the Mott insulator.  Most Mott insulators have AF long-range order at zero temperature due to Heisenberg coupling between neighboring spins.  Once a Mott insulator is doped away from the half-filled case, the system should in principle become metallic.  However, strong coupling among spin, charge, and orbital degrees of freedom often makes this regime an anomalous metallic phase which exhibits many unusual physical phenomena such as high-Tc superconductivity, CMR effect and etc.


     


    Understanding how MIT occurs in TMOs poses one of the most profound intellectual challenges in the physical sciences today.  This is because TMOs are often characterized by physical complexity resulting from the coexistence and competition between different kind of order involving charge, orbital, lattice, and spin degrees of freedom.  The relationship between these degrees of freedom is often synergistic and non-linear.  The complexity of TMOs is directly responsible for their tunability.


     


    Neutrons—with their wavelengths and energies comparable to atomic spacing and lattice vibrations in solids—have played a unique role in determining the static and dynamic lattice and magnetic properties of the TMOs. Some of the reasons for this are as follows: 1) Neutrons are scattered by the nucleus. Light atoms such as hydrogen and oxygen scatter just as strongly as heavier atoms. 2) The neutron carries a magnetic moment that interacts with localized magnetic ions and unpaired itinerant electrons in solids. 3) Neutron is a weak interacting probe. Neutron scattering cross section is determined by the static and dynamic correlation functions of the system, without the need for correcting the influence of the probe. 4) Neutrons are a highly penetrating bulk probe and therefore insensitive to surface imperfections.


     


    The central aim of our group is to use neutron scattering as a technique to study magnetic properties of correlated electron materials, essentially to understand why materials behave the way they do and how electron correlations can affect the bulk properties of these materials.

     
    Selected Publications
     Refereed articles
     

    B. J. Campbell, S. Rosenkranz, H. J. Kang, H. T. Stokes, P. J. Chupas, S. Komiya, Y. Ando, Shiliang Li, and Pengcheng Dai "Long-range two-dimensional superstructure in the superconducting electron-doped cuprate Pr0.88LaCe0.12CuO4." Phys. Rev. B, 92 (2015) : 014118.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.014118
     
     

    Chenglin Zhang, J. T. Park, Xingye Lu, Rong Yu, Yu Li, Wenliang Zhang, Yang Zhao, J. W. Lynn, Qimiao Si, and Pengcheng Dai "Neutron spin resonance as a probe of superconducting gap anisotropy in partially detwinned electron underdoped NaFe0.985Co0.015 ." Phys. Rev. B , 91 (2015) : 104520.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.104520
     
     

    Ding Hu, Xingye Lu, Wenliang Zhang, Huiqian Luo, Shiliang Li, Peipei Wang, Genfu Chen, Fei Han, Shree R. Banjara, A. Sapkota, A. Kreyssig, A. I. Goldman, Z. Yamani, Christof Niedermayer, Markos Skoulatos, Robert Georgii, T. Keller, Pengshuai Wang, Weiqiang Yu, and Pengcheng Dai "Structural and Magnetic Phase Transitions near Optimal Superconductivity in BaFe2As1?xPx-2 ." Phys. Rev. Lett., 114 (2015) : 157002.


    http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.114.157002
     
     

    Haoran Man, Xingye Lu, Justin S. Chen, Rui Zhang, Wenliang Zhang, Huiqian Luo, J. Kulda, A. Ivanov, T. Keller, Emilia Morosan, Qimiao Si, and Pengcheng Dai "Electronic nematic correlations in the stress-free tetragonal state of BaFe2?xNixAs2." Phys. Rev. B, 92 (2015) : 134521.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.134521
     
     

    Justin S. Chen, Jiakui K. Wang, Scott V. Carr, Sven C. Vogel, Olivier Gourdon, Pengcheng Dai, and E. Morosan "Chemical tuning of electrical transport in Ti1-xPtxSe2-y ." Phys. Rev. B , 91 (2015) : 045125.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.045125
     
     

    Mahmoud Abdel-Hafiez, Yuanyuan Zhang, Zheng He, Jun Zhao, Christoph Bergmann, Cornelius Krellner, Chun-Gang Duan, Xingye Lu, Huiqian Luo, Pengcheng Dai, and Xiao-Jia Chen "Nodeless superconductivity in the presence of spin-density wave in pnictide superconductors: The case of BaFe2-xNixAs2 ." Phys. Rev. B, 90 (2014) : 144502.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.144502
     
     

    Meng Wang, P. Valdivia, Ming Yi, J. X. Chen, W. L. Zhang, R. A. Ewings, T. G. Perring, Yang Zhao, L. W. Harriger, J. W. Lynn, E. Bourret-Courchesne, Pengcheng Dai, D. H. Lee, D. X. Yao, and R. J. Birgeneau " Spin waves and spatially anisotropic exchange interactions in the S = 2 stripe antiferromagnet Rb0.8Fe1.5S2 ." Phys. Rev. B, 92 (2015) : 041109(R).


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.041109
     
     

    Meng Wang,Ming Yi, Huibo Cao, C. de la Cruz, S. K. Mo, Q. Z. Huang, E. Bourret-Courchesne, Pengcheng Dai, D. H. Lee, Z. X. Shen, and R. J. Birgeneau "Mott localization in a pure stripe antiferromagnet Rb1??Fe1.5??S2." Phys. Rev. B, 92 (2015) : 121101.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.121101
     
     

    Pengcheng Dai "Antiferromagnetic order and spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors." Rev. Mod. Phys., 87 (2015) : 855.


    http://journals.aps.org/rmp/abstract/10.1103/RevModPhys.87.855
     
     

    Rui Zhang, Dongliang Gong, Xingye Lu, Shiliang Li, Mark Laver, Christof Niedermayer, Sergey Danilkin, Guochu Deng, Pengcheng Dai, and Huiqian Luo "Doping evolution of antiferromagnetism and transport properties in nonsuperconducting BaFe$_{2-2x}$Ni$_x$Cr$_x$As$_2$ ." Phys. Rev. B, 91 (2015) : 094506.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.094506
     
     

    S. Y. Tan, J. Jiang, Z. R. Ye, X. H. Niu, Y. Song, C. L. Zhang, P. C. Dai, B. P. Xie, X. C. Lai, and D. L. Feng "Photoemission study of the electronic structure and charge density waves of Na2Ti2Sb2O ." Scientific Reports , 5 (2015) : 9515.


    http://www.nature.com/articles/srep09515
     
     

    Xiao Ren, Lian Duan, Yuwen Hu, Jiarui Li, Rui Zhang, Huiqian Luo, Pengcheng Dai, and Yuan Li " Nematic Crossover in BaFe2As2 under Uniaxial Stress ." Phys. Rev. Lett., 115 (2015) : 197002.


    http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.197002
     
     

    Yu Song, Xingye Lu, D. L. Abernathy, David W. Tam, J. L. Niedziela, Wei Tian, Huiqian Luo, Qimiao Si, and Pengcheng Dai " Energy dependence of the spin excitation anisotropy in uniaxial-strained BaFe1.9Ni0.1As2 ." Phys. Rev. B, 92 (2015) : 180504.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.180504
     
     

    H. Kim, M. A. Tanatar, Yong Liu, Z. C. Sims, Chenglin Zhang, Pengcheng Dai, T. A. Lograsso, and R. Prozorov "Evolution of London penetration depth with scattering in single crystals of K1?xNaxFe2As2." Phys. Rev. B, 89 (2014) : 174519.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.174519
     
     

    Chenglin Zhang, Leland W. Harriger, Zhiping Yin, Weicheng Lv, Miaoyin Wang, Guotai Tan, Yu Song, D. L. Abernathy, Wei Tian, Takeshi Egami, Kristjan Haule, Gabriel Kotliar, and Pengcheng Dai "Effect of Pnictogen Height on Spin Waves in Iron Pnictides." Phys. Rev. Lett., 112 (2014) : 217202.


    http://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.217202
     
     

    Chenglin Zhang, Yu Song, L.-P. Regnault, Yixi Su, M. Enderle, J. Kulda, Guotai Tan, Zachary C. Sims, Takeshi Egami, Qimiao Si, and Pengcheng Dai "Anisotropic neutron spin resonance in underdoped superconducting NaFe1?xCoxAs." Phys. Rev. B , 90 (2014) : 140502(R).


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.140502
     
     

    Long Ma, J. Dai, P. S. Wang, X. R. Lu, Yu Song, Chenglin Zhang, G. T. Tan, Pengcheng Dai, D. Hu, S. L. Li, B. Normand, and Weiqiang Yu "Phase separation, competition, and volume-fraction control in NaFe1?xCoxAs." Phys. Rev. B , 90 (2014) : 144502.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.144502
     
     

    Meng Wang, Wei Tian, P. Valdivia, Songxue Chi, E. Bourret-Courchesne, Pengcheng Dai, and R. J. Birgeneau "Two spatially separated phases in semiconducting Rb0.8Fe1.5S2." Phys. Rev. B , 90 (2014) : 125148.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.125148
     
     

    P. Zhang, P. Richard, T. Qian, X. Shi, J. Ma, L.-K. Zeng, X.-P. Wang, E. Rienks, C.-L. Zhang, Pengcheng Dai, Y.-Z. You, Z.-Y. Weng, X.-X. Wu, J. P. Hu, and H. Ding "Observation of Momentum-Confined In-Gap Impurity State in Ba0.6K0.4Fe2As2: Evidence for Antiphase s+- Pairing." Phys. Rev. X, 4 (2014) : 031001.


    http://journals.aps.org/prx/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevX.4.031001
     
     

    Rui Zhang, Dongliang Gong, Xingye Lu, Shiliang Li, Pengcheng Dai, and Huiqian Luo "The effect of Cr impurity to superconductivity in electron-doped BaFe2?xNixAs2." Supercond. Sci. Technol, 27 (2014) : 115003.


    http://iopscience.iop.org/0953-2048/27/11/115003/
     
     

    Scott V. Carr, Despina Louca, Joan Siewenie, Q. Huang, Aifeng Wang, Xianhui Chen, and Pengcheng Dai "Structure and composition of the superconducting phase in alkali iron selenide KyFe1.6+xSe2." Phys. Rev. B , 89 (2014) : 134509.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.134509
     
     

    W. Tian, Guotai Tan, Liu Liu, Jinxing Zhang, Barry Winn, Tao Hong, J. A. Fernandez-Baca, Chenglin Zhang, and Pengcheng Dai "Influence of doping on the spin dynamics and magnetoelectric effect in hexagonal Y0.7Lu0.3MnO3 ." Phys. Rev. B , 89 (2014) : 144417.


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.89.144417
     
     

    Xianhui Chen, Pengcheng Dai, Donglai Feng, Tao Xiang, and Fu-Chun Zhang "Iron-based high transition temperature superconductors." National Science Review, 1 (2014) : 371.


    doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwu007
     
     

    Xingye Lu, David W. Tam, Chenglin Zhang, Huiqian Luo, Meng Wang, Rui Zhang, Leland W. Harriger, T. Keller, B. Keimer, L.-P. Regnault, Thomas A. Maier, and Pengcheng Dai "Short-range cluster spin glass near optimal superconductivity in BaFe2?xNixAs2." Phys. Rev. B , 90 (2014) : 024509 .


    http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.90.024509
     
     

    Xingye Lu, J. T. Park, Rui Zhang, Huiqian Luo, Andriy H. Nevidomskyy, Qimiao Si, Pengcheng Dai "Nematic spin correlations in the tetragonal state of uniaxial-strained BaFe_{2-x}Ni_{x}As_2." Science, 345 (2014) : 657.


    https://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6197/657.abstract
     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 88, 064504 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 87, 081101 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 207002 (2013). 

     
     

    Phys. Rev. X 3, 041036 (2013)

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 107004 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 87, 144512 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 107006 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 88, 144516 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 88, 184514(2013).

     
     

    Nature Communications 4, 1470 (2013).

     
     

    Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter 25, 395702 (2013). 

     
     

    Nature Communications 4, 2874 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 87, 064409 (2013).

     
     

    Nature Physics 8, 709 (2012).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. X 3, 011020 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 88, 134518 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 87, 174517 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 257001 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 88, 134512 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 87, 184511 (2013).

     
     

    Nature Physics 9, 42 (2013).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 247002 (2012).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 227002 (2012).

     
     

    Phys. Rev. B 86, 140403 (2012).

     
     

    Nature Physics 8, 376 (2012).

     
     Book chapters
     

    Yu Song and Pengcheng Dai "High-Temperature Superconductors." Experimental Methods in the Physical Sciences, 48 (2015) : 145-201.


    http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/bookseries/10794042
     
    Presentations
     Invited Papers
     

    "The PI has give more than 20 invited talks at international meetings over the past two years .  Details available upon request.."

     
     Invited Talks
     

    "The PI has given more than 10 invited talks in 2015.  Including APS March meeting invited talk, Golden Conference for superconductivity invited talk in Hong Kong, and internation conference for superconductivity invited talk in Geneva.."

     
    Editorial Positions
     Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. IOP Science. (2013 - 2013)

     Member of the Editorial Board, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter. IOP. (2015 - 2015)

    Supervised Theses & Dissertations
     Hye Jung Kang, Ph. D Neutron scattering studies of electron-doped copper oxide superconductors. (2005) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Stephen D Wilson, Ph. D Neutron Scattering Studies of heavy Fermion and copper oxide superconductors. (2007) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Songxue Chi, Ph. D Neutron Scattering Studies of colossal magnetoresistance manganites and iron-based superconductors. (2008) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Jun Zhao, Ph. D Spin excitations in iron-based superconductors. (2010) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Leland W. Harriger, Ph. D Spin Excitations in iron-based superconductors. (2012) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Miaoyin Wang, Ph. D Spin dynamics in iron-based superconductors. (2013) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Meng Wang, Ph. D Magnetism in iron-based superconductors. (2013) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Mengshu Liu, Ph. D Spin excitations in electron-doped copper oxide and iron pnictide superconductors. (2014) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Yu Song, Ph. D Neutron scattering studies of correlated electron materials. (2016) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Scott Carr, Ph. D Spin dynamics in correlated electron materials. (2016) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     David Tam, Ph. D A combined neutron scatteirng computer study of iron-based superconductors. (2017) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Yu Li, Ph. D Neutron scattering studies of iron based superconductors. (2017) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Weiyi Wang, Ph. D Neutron scattering studies of correllated electron materials. (2018) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Haoran Man, Ph. D Neutron studies of correlated electron materials. (2018) (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

     Xingye Lu, Ph. D spin dynamics in iron pnictides. (Thesis or Dissertation Director)

    Awards, Prizes, & Fellowships
     Highly Cited Researcher 2014, Thomson Reuter's (june 2014)

     Fellow, AAAS (Dec 2012)

     Fellow, American Physical Society (2008)

    Positions Held
     Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville. (2006 - 2008)

     Postdoc Associate, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (1993 - 1996)

     Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rice University. (2013 - 2013)

     Visiting Professor, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. (2014 - 2015)

     Staff Scientist, Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (1996 - 2001)

     Associate Professor of Physics, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville. (2001 - 2016)

     Professor of Physics and JIAM Chair of Excellence, Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee-Knoxville. (2008 - 2013)