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)

Honours and Awards:

• Research Excellence Award 2019/20, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Young Researcher Award 2014, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
• Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards 2014, The Ministry of Education
• Early Career Award 2012/13, University Grants Committee

Selected Publications:

• "Achieving adjustable elasticity with non-affine to affine transition", X. Shen, C. Fang, Z. Jin, H. Tong, S. Tang, H. Shen, N. Xu, J. H. Y. Lo, X. Xu and L. Xu, Nature Materials 20, 1635-1642, 2021.
• "The role of drop shape in impact and splash", Q. Liu, J. H. Y. Lo, Y. Li, Y. Liu and J. Zhao, Nature Communications 12, 3068, 2021.
• "Diffusion-dominated pinch-off of ultralow surface tension fluids", H. Y. Lo, Y. Liu, S. Y. Mak, Z. Xu, Y. Chao, K. J. Li, H. C. Shum and L. Xu, Phys. Rev. Lett. 123, 134501, 2019.
• "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.