Xiaofang Zhai’s research focuses on low-dimensional correlated quantum materials. She has published over 100 papers in journals including Nature Materials, Physical Review Letters, Science Advances, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, Nature Communications, Advanced Materials, and Nano Letters, and holds several national invention patents and software copyrights. She has been invited to give talks at major international conferences such as the APS March Meeting and the MRS Spring Meeting. She served as a member and council member of the Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and as the president of its branch. She also served as a member of the Basic Science Committee of the China National Youth Federation of Science and Technology, and as a youth editorial board member for the four journals of the Institute of Physics (CPL, CPB, Acta Physica Sinica, and Physics). She has long served as a reviewer for journals including Nature, Physical Review, and Wiley series, and has acted as a session chair at international conferences.

• Interfacial electronics and spintronics;

• Two-dimensional freestanding films and soft electronics;

• Synchrotron and neutron studies of interfacial physics. 

1. J. Liu, L. Cheng*, J. Zha, F. Ye, X. Zhai*, “Observation of Quantum Criticality Class Crossover at the LaAlO3/KTaO3 (111) Interface”, Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 216202 (2025). 

2. L. Cheng, M. Bao, J. Zhang, X. Zhang, Q. Yang, Q. Li, H. Cao, D. Qiu, J. Liu, F. Ye, Q. Wang, G. Liang, H. Li, G. Cheng, H. Zhou, J.-M. Zuo, X. Zhou, J. Shen, Z. Zhu*, S. Mu*, W. Wang*, X Zhai*, “Angle-Resolved Magneto-Chiral Anisotropy in a Non-Centrosymmetric Atomic Layer Superlattice”, Sci. Bull. 70, 1406–1409 (2025).

3. Z. Cui, A. Grutter, H. Zhou, H. Cao, Y. Dong, D. Gilbert, J. Wang, Y.-S.  Liu, J. Ma, Z. Hu, J. Guo, J. Xia, B. Kirby, P. Shafer, E. Arenholz, H.  Chen*, X. Zhai*, Y. Lu. “Correlation-Driven Eightfold Magnetic Anisotropy in a Two-Dimensional Oxide Monolayer”, Sci. Adv. 6, eaay0114 (2020).

4. D. Meng, H. Guo, Z. Cui, C. Ma, J. Zhao, J. Lu, H. Xu, Z. Wang, X. Hu, Z. Fu, R. Peng, J. Guo, X. Zhai*, G. Brown, R, Knize, Y, Lu,* “Strain-induced high-temperature perovskite ferromagnetic insulator”, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 115(12), 2873-2877 (2018).

5. X. Zhai*, L. Cheng, Y. Liu*, C. M. Schlepütz, S. Dong*, H. Li, X. Zhang, S. Chu, Li. Zheng, J. Zhang, A. Zhao, H. Hong, A. Bhattacharya, J. N. Eckstein, C.Zeng, “Correlating interfacial octahedral rotations with magnetism in (LaMnO3+δ)N/(SrTiO3)N superlattices”, Nat. Commun. 5, 4283 (2014).

Research ID: 0000-0002-1641-6292