Huibo Cao

Bio

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 research staff at ORNL. He serves as the Point-of-Contact of a HFIR beamline DEMAND and is also the Principal Investigator (PI) of a quantum material research group. His interest and expertise lie in the study of magnetism, with a focus on emergent quantum states and structural/magnetic symmetry characterization in a range of materials. He began his research career investigating macroscopic quantum tunneling in single molecular magnets during his Ph.D. studies. During his first postdoctoral appointment in Laboratoire Léon Brillouin, France, his research interest moved to geometrically frustrated magnets that host various emergent quantum states. Following a one-year postdoctoral position at ORNL, he became research staff working on various quantum materials including low-dimensional, frustrated, topological, multiferroic, and superconducting materials. In 2018, Dr. Cao received the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Early Career Award on “Local Site Magnetic Susceptibility for Quantum Materials by Polarized Neutron Diffraction” and started his Quantum Material research group. His group has developed polarized neutron diffraction as a local probe of magnetic response at a crystallographic site to characterize magnetic quantum materials beyond magnetic ordered states. Dr. Cao  is also interested in AI-assisted instrument automation and data interpretation and is collaborating with talented mathematicians to develop more efficient methods for exploring quantum material science. Over the course of his career, he has authored or co-authored more than 200 publications and mentored seven postdoctoral fellows and six short-term students. Dr. Cao's research group warmly welcomes highly motivated students and postdocs who share their passion for quantum material research, neutron scattering science, and AI-assisted sciences relevant to these fields. If you are interested in joining or collaborating with their team, they would be delighted to hear from you.

Awards

DOE Early Career Award on “Local Site Magnetic Susceptibility for Quantum Materials by Polarized Neutron Diffraction” (2018-2023). 

Beam Line Scientist Award from SHUG for Excellence in Beam Line Science recognizes beam line scientists who have made significant scientific contributions in their area of research or instrumentation development and have participated in the growth and enrichment of the user community, 2019.