News & Events

Photo taken by Xueyang Song The Department of Physics is proud to welcome two new faculty members (l-r):   Assistant Professor Kaifei Kang graduated with a B.S. in physics from Xi'an Jiaotong University in 2016 and completed his Ph.D. at Cornell University in 2022. He then spent two years as a postdoctoral scholar at Cornell before joining the faculty at HKUST. His research focuses on electronic properties of two-dimensional quantum materials and quantum devices, with a broad interest in topological physics, strongly correlated physics, superconductivity, spintronics, and related areas. His work aims to uncover new quantum states of matter and advance experimental techniques in the field. https://physics.hkust.edu.hk/people/kaifei-kang-kangkaifei   Assistant Professor Jue Wang received his B.S. from Peking University in 2014, and his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2020, advised by Professor Xiaoyang Zhu. Prior to joining HKUST, he was a Harvard Quantum Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University, co-advised by Professor Philip Kim and Professor Hongkun Park. As an experimental condensed matter physicist working on low-dimensional materials and strongly correlated phenomena, he aims to realize novel quantum matters, deepen our understanding of them, and unlock their potential in the ongoing quantum revolution. To achieve these goals, his group develops and applies a variety of optical spectroscopies and techniques, especially those using ultrafast lasers, together with nanofabrication of electronic devices, electrical measurements, and low-temperature techniques capable of cooling electrons down to the 10 mK range. https://physics.hkust.edu.hk/people/jue-wang-wangjue Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome its newest faculty member:   Assistant Professor Shilin Huang grew up in Guangzhou (Canton), China. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Yao Class at Tsinghua University, majoring in computer science while also enjoying mathematics and physics. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Duke University, supervised by Prof. Kenneth R. Brown.  Prior to joining HKUST, he was a postdoc at the Yale Quantum Institute, working in Prof. Shruti Puri’s research group. Currently, Shilin conducts theoretical research in quantum information science. He applies algebra to construct useful fault-tolerant quantum error correction circuits, which are crucial for the development of large-scale, reliable quantum computers. He has also collaborated with experimentalists on developing robust control pulses for various quantum devices, such as trapped atomic ions. His long-term research goal is to gain a deeper understanding of nature through the lenses of information and computation. Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome its newest faculty member: Assistant Professor Xueyang Song grew up in north China and attended the Asian Physics Olympiad at high school. She got her Bachelor of Science from Peking University, and PhD in physics from Harvard University, under the supervision of Ashvin Vishwanath. Before joining HKUST, she was a Moore postdoctoral fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  Professor Song is interested in theoretical condensed matter physics, in particular strongly correlated systems where free electron approximation fails. Quantum effects give rise to emergent phenomena there, such as particles with fractional charge and photon-like excitations in solid state systems. The interplay of symmetry, topology and correlations constrains the ground states, dynamics and kinematics of such systems, despite the absence of exact solution on the many-body systems. She studied effective descriptions and physical properties of frustrated magnetic systems, that fail to order at zero temperature. Instead, the magnetic moments conspire to form collective motions that are best captured by fractions of the elementary degrees of freedom and sometimes gauge structures. More recently, she focused on the exotic physics realized in 2d Moire systems, formed by a slight lattice misalignment among multiple atomic-thin layers stacked together. She investigated topological superconductivity and phase transitions relevant to these tunable platforms.  Her research makes extensive use of effective field theory, as well as lattice models, through a combination of analytical and numerical methods. Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome our newest faculty member: Assistant Professor Shiming Lei received his bachelor's degree in Physics at Harbin Institute of Technology, and Ph.D. degree in Materials Science and Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University. Prior joining HKUST, he was a postdoctoral research associate in the Department of Chemistry at Princeton University and subsequently was a research scientist in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at Rice University. His research interest is in the development of novel quantum materials that host emergent electronic or magnetic properties. Of particular interest are solid-state materials with a strong interplay between spin, orbital, charge, and topology degrees of freedom. The materials properties that he is interested in include the correlated behavior in topological materials, real-space spin texture in magnetic materials, geometrical phase and their manifestation in electrical response, and tunability in properties via external stimuli (field, heat, stress, etc). His research is at the intersection of condensed matter physics, materials science, and solid-state chemistry, and benefits largely from a closed feedback-loop of materials growth, properties characterization, and functionality tuning. Read more

Prof. Kam Biu Luk’ homepage Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome three new faculty members: Assistant Professor Berthold Jäck obtained his diploma degree with distinction from Würzburg University, Germany in 2011 and his Dr. sc. in physics from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland in 2015. Prior joining HKUST, he was a postdoctoral fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation at Princeton University. His research interest in centered around the microscopic investigation of correlated and topological electronic phases in low-dimensional quantum materials.  Assistant Professor Hoi Chun (Adrian) Po received his Bachelor's degree in Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Ph.D. in Physics at the Harvard University. He was a Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before joining HKUST. His main research interest is condensed matter theory, and in particular on the interplay between symmetries and topology in quantum materials. Associate Professor Sen Yang received his Bachelor's degree in Physics at Tsinghua University in Beijing, and Ph.D. in Physics at the University of California, San Diego. Prior to joining HKUST, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Texas at Austin and subsequently at the University of Stuttgart. Most recently, he was also an assistant professor in the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His research interest is quantum optics based on solid-state systems, and in particular developing quantum information technologies with nitrogen vacancy centers in diamond. Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome three new faculty members: Assistant Professor Kirill Prokofiev received his Master’s degree from St. Petersburg State Polytechnic University and a Ph.D. from the University of Zurich, both in physics. Prior to joining HKUST he was a Foreign Research Fellow at National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Italy (INFN). He originally joined the Department in 2014 as a Research Assistant Professor and Junior Fellow of the HKUST Jockey Club Institute for Advanced Study. His research interests include experimental studies of the recently discovered Higgs boson, searches for the physics beyond the Standard Model and development of semiconductor silicon detectors for experimental particle physics.  Assistant Professor Qin Xu received his Ph.D. in physics at the University of Chicago in 2015. Prior to joining HKUST, he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the laboratory of soft and living materials at ETH Zurich. Dr. Qin Xu’s research focuses on soft condensed matter physics. In particular, he is interested in applying advanced optical microscopy in studying mechanics of soft solids and complex fluids.  Assistant Professor Rui Zhang received his Bachelor's degree in Physics at Fudan University, and Ph.D. in Physics at the City University of New York. Prior to joining HKUST, he was working at the University of Chicago. His research interest is to use theoretical and numerical tools including data-driven methods to simulate soft matter, including active matter, liquid crystals, and complex fluids, and to design novel materials for practical applications. Read more

The Department of Physics is proud to welcome two new faculty members: Assistant Professor Jingdi Zhang received his Bachelor’s degree at University of Science and Technology of China, and Ph.D. in Physics at Boston University. Prior to joining HKUST, he was a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego. His research interest is using state-of-the-art ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy to interrogate and control non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum materials and artificial materials, through light-matter interaction on femtosecond (10-15 s) to picosecond (10-12 s) timescale. Professor Bei Zeng receive her Ph.D. in Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Prior to joining HKUST, she was Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Guelph and Affiliate Faculty at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. Prof.  Zeng’s research focuses on information processing and computing based on quantum effects such as superposition and entanglement. Read more