Oxide MBE and ARPES Group Leader
Research Interests：
The research focuses on the atomic-scale synthesis, emergent phenomena, and property manipulation of novel magnetoelectric functional low-dimensional materials based on transition metal oxides, encompassing (quasi-)two-dimensional ferroelectrics, ferromagnets, multiferroics, and high-temperature superconductors. Through the development of oxide molecular beam epitaxy (Oxide MBE) technology, the group has established in-situ monitoring and growth methods with single-atomic-layer precision for oxide thin films and interfaces. Combined with angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) and other characterization techniques, these efforts have led to a series of advances in the electronic structure study of quantum materials.
Representative achievements include: (1) the first realization of freestanding perovskite oxide thin films down to a single-unit-cell thickness via MBE, providing a material platform for the study of two-dimensional strongly correlated oxides; (2) the first breakthrough in wafer-scale (2-inch) heteroepitaxial growth of barium titanate (BTO) thin films on silicon substrates in China, where in-situ RHEED revealed the dynamics of lattice relaxation and domain structures with dominant in-plane polarization, offering material support for the application of BTO thin films in silicon-based electro-optic modulators; (3) a series of advances in the ambient-pressure preparation and electronic structure characterization of nickelate superconducting thin films, providing experimental reference for the study of unconventional superconductivity mechanisms.
Professor Nie has published over 100 papers in journals such as Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, Nature Nanotechnology, and Physical Review Letters, with his work highlighted by Nature and other international media. He has delivered more than 80 invited talks at international conferences and research institutions. In 2026, he was invited to deliver a plenary speech at the 24th International Conference on Molecular Beam Epitaxy (ICMBE 2026), with the talk titled "Exploring emergent phases in complex oxides via molecular beam epitaxy."
