Selected Publications

Professor Nan Yao is the founding director of Princeton University’s Imaging and Analysis Center (IAC) and an Inaugural Professor of the Practice. For more than three decades, he has advanced both fundamental science and practical applications of microscopy, contributing to new knowledge of materials and innovations in imaging technology. At Princeton, he has built world-class facilities, designed a curriculum in materials characterization, and fostered interdisciplinary research, while mentoring and teaching thousands of students, postdoctoral researchers, and professionals across disciplines.

After earning his Ph.D. in applied physics and electron microscopy from Arizona State University under pioneering microscopist John M. Cowley, Yao began his career in industry, first at Shell Development Company and later at ExxonMobil Research and Engineering. In 1993, he joined Princeton University to help establish its interdisciplinary Microscopy Program, which evolved into today’s IAC. Under his leadership, the IAC has become a world-class materials characterization facility, praised by an NSF-MRSEC review committee as “among the best in the world for advanced imaging and analysis of materials.”

Yao is best known for his co-discovery of the first natural quasicrystal, a landmark achievement that resolved a long-standing question in solid-state physics. Building on Dan Shechtman’s 1982 discovery of synthetic quasicrystals – a finding that earned the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry – Yao played a central role in demonstrating that such aperiodic structures can also form under natural conditions. This work is often regarded as “the next chapter” of Shechtman’s breakthrough. In the late 1990s, Yao partnered with Paul J. Steinhardt and Peter J. Lu to initiate the first systematic diffraction-based search for natural quasicrystals, resulting in a 2001 paper in Physical Review Letters. In 2008, a candidate sample from the Koryak Mountains was identified by Luca Bindi, and Yao’s electron microscopy provided the first images and diffraction patterns, confirming icosahedral symmetry and establishing a new, stable solid phase – neither crystalline nor amorphous. Published in Science (2009) and cited in the Nobel Prize press release, this discovery proved the existence of a third form of solid matter in nature. Later studies revealed it had formed under natural high-pressure, high-temperature conditions in space. In 2015, Yao’s microscopy again confirmed a second natural quasicrystal with decagonal symmetry, expanding the field and offering rare insight into alloy formation in extreme environments and the primordial materials of the early solar system.

Beyond this landmark achievement, Yao’s research has delivered numerous firsts: the first direct real-space visualization of electron orbital signatures within individual atoms (2023); development of the first 300 keV environmental-cell transmission electron microscope (1991); a theoretical explanation for the superior resolution of helium-ion microscopy over SEM (2008); and the first direct demonstration of mechanically breaking a single dative bond (2021), revealing new insights into force-driven chemical reactivity at the single-atom scale. His work has helped push back the origin of animals by ~100 million years through the discovery of a 650-million-year-old sponge-like fossil (2010) and identified the earliest known use of diamond, dating to 4000 BC (2005). He coauthored the opening paper of Nano Letters’ inaugural issue (2001), underscoring his broad impact on nanomaterials research.

Yao integrates advanced imaging, diffraction, spectroscopy, and in-situ methods with computational modeling to investigate structure–composition–processing–property relationships in complex and quantum materials for applications in nanotechnology, energy, environmental science, and health. He has authored two widely used books (Handbook of Microscopy for Nanotechnology and Focused Ion Beam System: Basics and Applications), 18 book chapters, and over 330 peer-reviewed papers in leading journals, including Science and Nature. Collaborating with more than 60 research groups at Princeton, he has also partnered extensively with numerous industry leaders, including ExxonMobil, DuPont, GE, Merck, Colgate-Palmolive, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, and Bristol-Myers Squibb, as well as many start-ups. He founded Princeton’s first industrial seminar series and the Princeton–Nature Conference Series (2018, 2022, 2024), Frontiers in Electron Microscopy for the Physical and Life Sciences, which convenes global leaders to explore emerging microscopy technologies.

A dedicated educator, Yao has taught more than 5,000 undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral researchers, and has received 14 Princeton teaching awards, including the Excellence in Teaching Award and the Commendation for Outstanding Teaching. In 2024, Princeton President Christopher L. Eisgruber praised his “extraordinary and unusual record of sustained excellence, even by Princeton’s high standards.” Yao designed and leads Princeton’s materials characterization curriculum, created an outreach program of free workshops and short courses that have trained students worldwide, and has taught more than 800 industrial scientists from 140+ companies. His training of the first generation of electron microscopists from several African countries has significantly expanded global scientific capacity, with his mentees going on to win Rhodes, Fulbright, and Hertz Fellowships, as well as NSF Graduate Research Fellowships and MSA and MRS Student Awards.

Yao is a Fellow of the AAAS, RMS, and MSA, internationally recognized for more than three decades of contributions to discovery, instrumentation, and education. Through pioneering breakthroughs, innovative imaging and analysis technologies, and a deep commitment to mentorship, he has bridged fundamental science and practical application. His work continues to shape the future of materials research, imaging, and analysis at the highest levels.

Princeton University Princeton, New Jersey Zip: 08544 United States of America

Imaging and Analysis Center Andlinger Center, Room 033 86 Olden Street Phone: 609-258-6394 Email: nyao@princeton.edu

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