Zhiyuan Honors Program alumnus Yiran Zhang (2018 physics graduate), currently a Harvard postdoctoral fellow after completing his Caltech PhD, has published a research in Nature unveiling a new superconducting mechanism in bilayer graphene.

The study demonstrated three key advances - enhancing graphene's superconductivity to 0.5K using WSe₂, creating twist-controlled superconductivity, and discovering quantum effects that break established physical rules. 

"This opens new possibilities for quantum material design," said Zhang, who first developed his research passion at SJTU, studying 2D materials as an undergraduate before participating in Caltech's competitive SURF program and later completing his PhD work on twisted graphene systems. This two-year collaborative study involved teams from Caltech and Freie Universität Berlin, with theoretical contributions from leading physicists including Prof. Felix von Oppen and Prof. Yuval Oreg.