Home People Teaching Staff XU Lei

Education and training:

• Postdoctoral Fellow, School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, 2006-2009
• PhD, Department of Physics, The University of Chicago, 2000-2006
• BS, Department of Physics, The University of Science and Technology of China, 1995-2000

Position:

• 2018-now, Professor, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• 2015-2018, Associate Professor, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
• 2009-2015, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Research Interest:

• Soft Condensed Matter Experiment

  1. Fluid Mechanics (liquid drop splash, liquid-solid impact, fingering instability)
  2. Complex Fluids (colloidal glass, colloidal crystallization, drying of complex fluids)

Selected Publications:

• "A universal state and its relaxation mechanisms of long-range interacting polygons", H. Shen, H. Tong, P. Tan and L. Xu, Nature Communications 10, 1737, 2019.
• "Mechanism of contact between a droplet and an atomically smooth substrate", H. Y. Lo, Y. Liu and L. Xu, Phys. Rev. X. 7, 021036, 2017.
• "Probing the role of mobility in the collective motion of nonequilibrium systems", H. Shen, P. Tan, and L. Xu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 116, 048302, 2016.
• "Kelvin–Helmholtz instability in an ultrathin air film causes drop splashing on smooth surfaces", Y. Liu, P. Tan and L. Xu, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (PNAS) 112, 3280-3284, 2015.
• "Visualizing kinetic pathways of homogeneous nucleation in colloidal crystallization", P. Tan, N. Xu and L. Xu, Nature Physics 10, 73-79, 2014.
• "Coalescence of Pickering Emulsion Droplets Induced by an Electric Field", G. Chen, P. Tan, S. Chen, J. Huang, W. Wen and L. Xu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 064502, 2013.
• "Compressible air entrapment in high-speed drop impacts on solid surfaces", Y. Liu, P. Tan and L. Xu, J. Fluid Mech. 716, R9, 2013.
• "Understanding the low-frequency quasilocalized modes in disordered colloidal systems", P. Tan, N. Xu, A. Schofield and L. Xu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 095501, 2012.
• "Drying of complex suspensions", L. Xu, A. Berges, P. Lu, A. Studart, H. Oki, A. Schofield, S. Davis and D. Weitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 128303, 2010.
• "Dynamics of drying in 3D porous media", L. Xu, S. Davis, A. Schofield and D. Weitz, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 094502, 2008.
• "Towards the zero-surface-tension limit in the granular fingering instability", X. Cheng, L. Xu, A. Patterson, H. M. Jaeger and S. R. Nagel, Nature Physics 4, 234, 2008.
• "Drop Splashing on a Dry Smooth Surface", L. Xu, W. W. Zhang and S. R. Nagel, Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 184505, 2005.

Press:

• Our paper "Visualizing kinetic pathways of homogeneous nucleation in colloidal crystallization" was reported in the "news and views" in nature physics, 10, 12-13, 2014.
• Our research on drop splashing was chosen as one of the twenty-five "Top Physics Stories for 2005", by American Institute of Physics.
  It was also reported in the popular and scientific press, including:
  New York Times, April 5, 2005; Nature, 435, 1168, 2005; Science, 308, 190, 2005; News(at)Nature.com, Feb. 7, 2005; Scientific American, 292 #6, 36, 2005; Science News, 167, 99, 2005; Discover, 26 #7, 11, 2005; Physics Web, Feb. 1, 2005; Financial Times Deutschland (Financial Times of Germany), April 12, 2005; Chicago Sun-Times, May 4, 2005.