Miao pioneered the development of novel imaging methods using x-rays and electrons, and contributed to theory, computation, and experiment. He proposed the oversampling ratio concept in 1998, which explains under what conditions the phase problem of non-crystalline specimens can be solved. In 1999, he conducted the first CDI experiment (i.e., scanning CDI) and
Bragg CDI, have been broadly implemented using
synchrotron radiation,
x-ray free electron lasers,
high harmonic generation, electron and optical microscopy. and imaged the 3D core structure of edge and screw dislocations at atomic resolution. In 2015, he determined the 3D coordinates of thousands of individual atoms in a material with a 3D precision of 19 pm and addressed Richard Feynman's 1959 challenge. Later, Miao measured the 3D coordinates of more than 23,000 atoms in an FePt nanoparticle, and correlated chemical order/disorder and crystal defects with material properties at the single-atom level. In 2019, he developed 4D AET to observe crystal nucleation at atomic resolution, showing early stage nucleation results contradict
classical nucleation theory. Miao also demonstrated scanning AET (sAET) to correlate the 3D atomic defects and electronic properties of 2D materials. In 2021, he determined for the first time the 3D atomic structure of
amorphous solids and observed the medium-range order in amorphous materials. == Awards ==