Last year, physicists from MIT announced in the journal Nature that electrons can transform into fractions of themselves in graphene, a single-layer form of carbon. This unusual electronic state, termed the fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE), may facilitate more resilient forms of quantum computing.

Currently, two early-career physicists affiliated with MIT, who played a role in the identification of FQAHE, have been awarded the 2025 McMillan Award from the University of Illinois for their contributions. Jiaqi Cai and Zhengguang Lu received the accolade “for the identification of fractional anomalous quantum Hall physics in 2D moiré materials.”

Cai is presently a Pappalardo Fellow at MIT collaborating with Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, while also working alongside several other laboratories at MIT, including Long Ju, the Lawrence and Sarah W. Biedenharn Career Development Associate Professor in the MIT Department of Physics. He identified FQAHE during his tenure in Professor Xiaodong Xu’s lab at the University of Washington.

Lu uncovered FQAHE during his postdoctoral work in Ju’s lab and has since progressed to become an assistant professor at Florida State University.

The two separate discoveries occurred within the same year.
 
“The McMillan award is the utmost accolade that a young condensed matter physicist can attain,” states Ju. “My colleagues and I in the Condensed Matter Experiment and the Condensed Matter Theory Group are immensely proud of Zhengguang and Jiaqi.” 

Both Ju and Jarillo-Herrero are also associated with the Materials Research Laboratory.

Along with a financial award and a plaque, Lu and Cai will present a colloquium regarding their research at the University of Illinois this autumn.