Huibo Cao

2010-present     Staff scientist, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, USA

2009-2010         Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, USA

2007-2009         Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Laboratoire Léon Brillouin, CEA-Saclay, FRANCE

2002-2007         Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, CAS, China

1998-2002         B.S. in Physics, Shanxi University, China

Research

Currently Dr. Cao is a senior staff scientist at ORNL. His expertise is in neutron scattering study of complex magnetism and quantum materials, especially single crystal diffraction and polarized neutron diffraction. He performs independent research, user support and instrumentation. Currently he has an active group supported by the DOE Early Career Award and has mentored 4 postdoc fellows and 4 students. His group is studying quantum materials by neutron scattering, especially polarized neutron diffraction. The group is developing the polarized neutron diffraction under extreme sample environment conditions, particularly with high pressure, and the methods to parameterize the anisotropic magnetic interactions from the local magnetic susceptibilities. 

Dr. Cao has been in charge of a single crystal neutron diffraction beamline HB-3A at the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) at ORNL since 2010 and has led the efforts to modernize the four-circle single crystal neutron diffractometer (FCD) to the DEMAND (2D detector Extreme sample environment Magnetic Neutron Diffractometer), an ideal instrument for studying complex magnetism and quantum materials. Dr. Cao has rich experiences in planning and running neutron scattering under extreme sample environment conditions such as ultra-low temperature, high magnetic field, high pressure (the highest pressure reaches 7.4 GPa on one of hexaferrite system). Dr. Cao is one of the Points-of-Contacts for a next generation single crystal neutron diffractometer PIONEER at the Second Target Station.