Exploring the concept of 'guided self-organization' for the creation of unique nanostructures such as surface magic cluster (SMC),2-d lattices of SMC, and ideally ordered array of nanochannels on anodic alumina film

Design and construction of special micro-analytical instruments for studying electrical and optical properties of nanostructures on surfaces, e.g., creation of a dual ion/electron point-like emitter and the construction of the first single-column focused ion/electron beam system; exploitation of surface plasmon on a nano-tip for optical spectro-microscopy

"Direct Observation of Two Dimensional Magic Clusters", M. Y. Lai and Y. L. Wang, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 164 (1998). 

"Self-organized Two-dimensional Lattice of Magic Clusters", M. Y. Lai and Y. L. Wang, Phys. Rev. B 64, 241404R (2001). 

"Structure Determination of Surface Magic Clusters", H. H. Chang and Y. L. Wang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 066103 (2004). 

"Order-Disorder Transition of Anodic Alumina Nanochannel Arrays Grown under the Guidance of Focused-Ion-Beam Patterning", C. Y. Liu and Y. L. Wang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 2509(2004).

"Fabrication of Anodic Alumina Film with Custom-designed Arrays of Nanochannels", N. W. Liu and Y. L. Wang et al., Adv. Mater. 17, 222 (2005). 

"Highly Raman Enhancing Substrates Made of Ag-Nanoparticle Array with Tunable Sub-10 nm Gaps", H. H. Wang and Y. L. Wang et al., Adv. Mater. 18, 491-495(2006). 

"Ordered arrays of Ag Nanoparticles Grown by Constrained Self-Organization", P. Sharma and Y. L. Wang et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 163110 (2006).