Yanan Dai received his B.S. degree in Space Science and Technology from Shandong University in 2013 and his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Pittsburgh in 2019. He subsequently joined the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University as a postdoctoral research scientist. In August 2022, he joined the Department of Physics at Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) as an Associate Professor. 

His primary research interests focus on novel nonequilibrium dynamics in low-dimensional condensed matter systems, including topological polaritons, excited-state electron–phonon interactions, and photoinduced phase transitions. By developing ultrafast interferometric time-resolved photoemission electron microscopy (ITR-PEEM), he has achieved ultrafast photoemission imaging of plasmonic spin pseudo-vector topological textures with spatiotemporal resolution reaching 10 nm and 100 attoseconds. This work was recognized with the Outstanding Ph.D. Dissertation Award from the Chinese-American Physics and Astronomy Society. 

In addition, he has developed high-harmonic-based extreme ultraviolet time-resolved angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (TR-ARPES), enabling full-Brillouin-zone measurements of quasiparticle dynamics in two-dimensional materials. Currently, he has established the Nano-Femtosecond Ultrafast Dynamics Laboratory at SUSTech, aiming to explore and control nonequilibrium physics in low-dimensional semiconductors and quantum materials at ultimate spatiotemporal limits.

• Nonequilibrium Physics in Condensed Matter 

• Strong-Field Nanophotonics

• Ultrafast Spectroscopy and Microscopy

08.2013 – 04.2019  Ph.D. in Physics,The University of Pittsburgh(advisor: Prof. Hrvoje Petek)

09.2009 – 07.2013  B.S. in Space Science and Technology,Shandong University (advisor: Prof. Quanqi Shi)

01.2023 - present  Associate Professor, Southern University of Science and Technology

07.2022 - 12.2022  Assistant Professor, Southern University of Science and Technology

06.2019 - 06.2022  Postdoctoral Scientist, Columbia University (advisor: Xiaoyang Zhu) 

International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers (OCPA) Outstanding Dissertation Award, 2020

Springer Outstanding Theses Award, 2020 

(1) Zhou, Z., Ghosh, A., Yang, S., Dai, Y., Huang, C.B. and Petek, H.† Nanoscale momentum transport by dual plasmonic vortex design. Appl. Phys. Rev., 12, 011413, 2025.

(2) Ghosh, A., Yang, S., Dai, Y.†, Liu W.V. and Petek, H.†, Plasmonic vortices host magnetoelectric interactions. Phys. Rev. Res., 6, 013163, 2024.

(3) Bae, Y.J., Handa, T., Dai, Y., Wang, J., Liu, H., Scheie, A., Chica, D., Ziebel, M., Kent, A., Xu, X., Shen, Ka., Roy, X. and Zhu, X.Y. † Transient magnetoelastic coupling in CrSBr. Phys. Rev. B., 109, 104401, 2024.

(4) Dai, Y.*, Zheng, Q.J*, Ziffer, M.E., Rhodes, D., Hone, J., Zhao, J.† & Zhu, X.-Y.† Ultrafast Ferroelectric Ordering on the Surface of a Topological Semimetal MoTe2. Nano Lett., 21, 9903, 2021.

(5) Dai, Y. †, Zhou, Z., Ghosh, A., Mong, S.K.R., Kubo, A., Huang, C.-B. & Petek, H.† Plasmonic Topological Quasiparticle on the Nanometre and Femtosecond Scales. Nature, 588, 616, 2020.

Research ID: https://nanofemto.org/