Research

Our research is focused on the nanoscale and quantum photonics and low-dimensional quantum materials, with particular interest in the fundamental physics related to the nanoscale cavity-mediated light-matter interaction in the quantum regime, including quantum plasmonics, molecular electronic plasmonics, nonlinear nanophotonics, exciton polariton physics and devices. These fundamental studies are relevant to many exciting applications in miniaturized photonic and optoelectronic devices, energy harvesting, conversion, storage and saving, advanced biochemical sensing and biomedical imaging. We have direct access to a large number of advanced optical measurement systems for single-particle absorption / scattering, reflection / transmission, fluorescence and Raman spectroscopies, with functionalities ranging from near- to far-field, linear to nonlinear, steady state to time-resolved and ultrafast regimes.

Selected publications

1. S. Q. Li, D. Y. Lei*, W. Ren, X. Y. Guo, S. F. Wu, Y. Zhu, A. L. Rogach, M. Chhowalla, A. K.-Y. Jen, "Water-resistant perovskite nanodots enable robust two-photon lasing in aqueous environment", Nature Communications 11, 1192 (2020) - The Top 50 Most Read Nature Communications Articles of 2020 in Physics (IF = 16.6, 196 citations)

2. G.-C. Li, D. Y. Lei*, M. Qiu, W. Jin, S. Lan, A. V. Zayats*, "Light-induced symmetry breaking for enhancing second-harmonic generation from an ultrathin plasmonic nanocavity", Nature Communications 12, 4326 (2021) (IF = 16.6, 96 citations)

3. H. L. You^#, S. Q. Li^#, Y. L. Fan, X. Y. Guo, Z. Z. Lin, R. Ding, X. Cheng, H. Zhang, T.-W. B. Lo, J. H. Hao, Y. Zhu, H.-Y. Tam, D. Y. Lei*, C.-H. Lam, H. T. Huang*, "Accelerated pyro-catalytic hydrogen production enabled by plasmonic local heating of Au on pyroelectric BaTiO₃ nanoparticles", Nature Communications 13, 6144 (2022) (IF = 16.6, 87 citations)

4. J. Y. Li^#, Y. Fu^#, J. K. Zhou, K. M. Yao, X. Ma, S. W. Gao, Z. K. Wang, J.-G. Dai, D. Y. Lei*, X. G. Yu*, "Ultra-thin, soft, radiative cooling interfaces for advanced thermal management in skin electronics", Science Advances 9(14), eadg1837 (2023) (IF = 14.1, 102 citations)

5. W. L. Li, P. He, D. Y. Lei*, Y. L. Fan, Y. T. Du, B. Gao, Z. Q. Chu, L. Q. Li, K. P. Liu, C. X. An, W. Z. Yuan, Y. T. Yu*, “Super-resolution multicolor fluorescence microscopy enabled by an apochromatic super-oscillatory lens with extended depth-of-focus”, Nature Communications 14(1), 5107 (2023) (IF = 16.6, 21 citations)

6. Z. Gao^#, Y. Fu^#, Q. ZHang, J. Li, Z. Y. Li, G. H. Guo, D. F. Li, J. K. Zhou, D. Y. Lei*, X. G. Yu*, “Plasmonic printing of high-performance metal oxide electronics under room temperature”, Nature Matreials 1-10. (2025) – CityUHK’s 1st Nature Materials paper with two or less corresponding authors and all authors from CityUHK (IF = 38.5)

7. S. Y. Jin, F. L. Liu, I Razdolski, T. W. Lo, Y. R. Wang, Z. W. Peng, K. Liang, Y. Zhu, W. Yao, A. V. Zayats, D. Y. Lei*, Plasmonic tuning of dark-exciton radiation dynamics and far-field emission directionality in monolayer WSe₂, Science Advances, accepted (2026)

8. J. H. Liu, F. L. Liu, T. Xing, Y. R. Wang, Z. W. Peng, L. Guo, W. Yao, D. Y. Lei*, Extended Valley Lifetime and Giant Valley Splitting Induced by Chiral Plasmon-valley Exciton Selective Coupling, Nature Communications, under revision