• Prof. Yang is a professor in the School of Emergent Soft Matter at South China University of Technology. He received his B.S. in physics from Tsinghua University in China in 1984 and his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Hawaii in 1989.  He worked as postdoctoral fellow, senior research fellow, assistant professor, associate professor and full professor in Kent State University from 1989 to 2025. His main research interest is in liquid-crystal physics and devices. He has coauthored 3 books and 8 book chapters. He also has published more than 200 papers in refereed journals and SID proceedings. He holds more than 30 patents. He is a fellow of SID (Society for Information Display). He has received numerous awards from SID and Kent State University.

• Professor Yang’s research is mainly on liquid crystal physics, liquid crystal devices, such as liquid crystal display, smart window (glass) and sensor, liquid crystal/polymer composites. His current research interests include: (1) Developing bistable smart window for dynamic control of privacy and radiant energy.  (2) Developing transparent display for applications in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality displays, (3) Studying relation between molecular chirality and morphological chirality, and (4) Conducting research on chiral differentiation and separation. His research goal mains to investigate soft matter systems with orientational order and explore their applications in advanced devices.

*corresponding author

Book

• D.-K. Yang and S.-T. Wu, “Fundamentals of liquid crystal devices,” 2nd Edition, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (2014).

Book Chapter

• D.-K. Yang, “Reflective cholesteric liquid crystal displays,” in Mobile Displays, ed. A. Bhowmik, Z. Li and P. J. Bos, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (2008), Chapter 16, 443-466, Invited.

• D.-K. Yang, “Polymer stabilized Cholesteric liquid crystal for switchable windows,” Liquid crystals beyond displays, ed. Q. Li, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (2012), Chapter 16.

• D.-K. Yang, “Electric color tuning in polymer-stabilized cholesteric liquid crystals,” Polymer modified liquid crystals, ed. I. Dierking, Royal Society of Chemistry, (2019), Chapter 8.

Papers

• D.-K. Yang, J.W. Doane, Z. Yaniv and J. Glasser, 'Cholesteric reflective display: drive scheme and contrast,' Appl. Phys. Lett., 65, 1905 (1994).

• Ziyuan Zhou, Xinfang Zhang, Suman Halder, Lang Hu, Yunho Shin, and Deng-Ke Yang, Smart Switchable Window with Bistability and Tunability of Transmission, Advanced Optical Materials, 12(14), 2302851, 2024.

• Qian Wang, Li Yu, Jian Sun, Yu Guan, Ziyuan Zhou, Yunho Shin, Huai Yang, John West, Deng‐Ke Yang, “Sunlight‐Driven Self‐Organized Helical Superstructure Chromotropic Device,” Advanced Optical Materials, 8 (24), 2001207 (2020).