News & Events

Research team members (from left to right): Professor Yuan Yao (HKUST Department of Mathematics), Research Assistant Professor Chu Li (HKUST Department of Physics), Professor Ding Pan (HKUST Department of Physics)    University press releases: HKUST Researcher Unveiling the Uncharted Reaction Pathways of Carbon Dioxide in Supercritical Water 科大研究揭示超臨界水中二氧化碳不為人知的反應路徑 科大研究揭示超临界水中二氧化碳不为人知的反应路径 Read more

The Department of Physics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Luk Kam-Biu Prize for Undergraduate Research and the 2024 Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Awards. The Luk Kam-Biu Prize is awarded to Zhiwei HE. The Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award is awarded to Ce ZHANG, and Honorable Mention is awarded to Yunchu LI.   Kam-Biu Luk Prize - Zhiwei HE “For advancements that facilitate comparisons of nonlinear behaviors across various integrated photonic platforms and provide strategies to mitigate parasitic effects,” under the supervision of Dr. Wil Kao (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).  Zhiwei He made significant contributions to the microwave-optical transduction efforts at the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) during his research exchange visit in the summer of 2024. In this project, he independently designed and constructed a laser frequency stabilization setup using the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique. With the functional PDH setup established, Zhiwei HE developed experimental methodologies for characterizing photorefractive effects in a range of ferroelectric materials. The methodologies he created are broadly applicable, extending beyond this specific project, and will facilitate systematic comparisons of nonlinear behaviors across various integrated photonic platforms. Mr. He’s research exchange visit to EPFL was facilitated by the International Research Enrichment Program of the School of Science. Mr. He was also the Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award Honorable Mention recipient in 2023. Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award - Ce ZHENG “For the  growth of high quality MoTe2 with an  improved method and for the construction of a new 2D transfer stage system,” under the supervision of Prof. Shiming Lei. Ce Zheng was one of the first students to actively participate in the foundational phase of Prof. Shiming Lei’s lab development. During the Fall 2023 semester, he worked diligently alongside two other lab members to construct a home-built vacuum line, successfully testing its performance by growing initial testbed materials. Additionally, Ce Zheng contributed to the design and construction of a fully motorized 2D material transfer stage using components sourced from Taobao.com. To facilitate ease of operation, he also contributed to the development of a MATLAB GUI package that enables high-precision fabrication of 2D devices. Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award, Honorable Mention - Yunchu LI “For the development of a low temperature diode laser system in a vacuum,” under the supervision of Prof. Gyu-Boong Jo. Since joining Prof. Gyu-Boong Jo’s group, Yunchu Li has worked on various experimental projects in the ytterbium quantum gas experiment, including controlling a spatial light modulator and designing a direct digital synthesis system. More recently, Yunchu LI initiated a new research project to develop a home-built external cavity diode laser (ECDL) that can operate at temperatures below 0°C. This innovative approach allows the ECDL to function without concerns about laboratory humidity. Yunchu LI is currently summarizing this work into a manuscript that will be submitted for publication in due course. Read more

Research team members (from left to right): Dr. Chu Li, Chen Chen, Yangyang Zhang, Jiajia Huang, Yaowen Zhang, Prof. Ding Pan, Dr. Nore Stolte, Lik Hang Alpha Hui, Dr. Tao Li     University press releases:   HKUST Research Unveiling the Possible Origin of Life from Deep Earth 科大研究揭示地球深部可能的生命起源 HKUST Science: Unveiling the Possible Origin of Life from Deep Earth  Read more

HKUST School of Science press release Read more

Congratulations to Xuan Tan Nguyen, Cheuk Kan Kelvin Yue, and Jundong Zhu (l-r) for being awarded 2024 Academic Achievement Medals. The Academic Achievement Medal is the highest academic honor bestowed by the University on outstanding undergraduate students upon graduation. The awarding of the Medal was established in 1994 to recognize graduates whose outstanding academic achievements bring honor and distinction both to themselves and to the University. Only the top 1% of graduates are awarded the Academic Achievement Medal annually. These awards will be presented at the 32nd University Congregation on 24 November 2024. The Department is very proud of all graduates and additionally delighted in the achievements of the Academic Achievement Medal awardees.     Xuan Tan Nguyen is currently pursuing a Ph.D. with a focus on quantum information in the Department of Physics at Boston University.  Cheuk Kam Kelvin Yue is pursuing his interest in high energy physics as an M. Phil. student in the Department of Physics at HKUST. Jundong Zhu is pursuing an M.Sc. degree in the Data-Driven Modeling program offered by the Departments of Physics and Mathematics at HKUST. Notably, Mr. Nguyen and Mr. Yue performed award-winning research during their undergraduate studies, as Winner and Honorable Mention recipient, respectively, of the Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Awards. Read more

A collaborative research team led by Prof. Junwei Liu, Associate Professor in the Department of Physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Prof Jinfeng Jia and Prof Yaoyi Li from Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU), has identified the world’s first multiple Majorana zero modes (MZMs) in a single vortex of the superconducting topological crystalline insulator SnTe and exploited crystal symmetry to control the coupling between the MZMs. This discovery, which is published in Nature, offers a new pathway to realizing fault-tolerant quantum computers.   A MZM is a zero-energy topologically nontrivial quasiparticle in a superconductor that obeys non-Abelian statistics, allowing for inequivalent braiding sequences, even though the total number of exchanges is the same (Fig. 1a). This contrasts with ordinary particles, such as electrons or photons, where different braiding always results in the same final state (Fig. 1b). This unique property protects MZMs from local perturbations, making them an ideal platform for robust fault-tolerant quantum computation. Although significant progress has been made in engineering artificial topological superconductors, the braiding and manipulation of MZMs remain extremely challenging due to their separation in real space, which complicates the necessary movements for hybridization. Fig. 1 Non-Abelian and Abelian exchange statistics. (a) Non-Abelian exchange statistics of MZMs, the final state differs if the order of two pair-wise exchange operations is interchanged. (b) Abelian exchange statistics of ordinary particles such as electrons and photons, swapping the order of the exchange operations will not affect the final state. This recently published work, reported jointly by the theoretical group at HKUST and the experimental group at SJTU, took a completely different approach to eliminate these bottlenecks by taking advantage of the unique feature of crystal-symmetry-protected MZMs. Leveraging their extensive experience in low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscopy, high-quality sample growth, and large-scale theoretical simulations, the collaborative team demonstrated for the first time the existence and hybridization of magnetic-mirror-symmetry-protected multiple MZMs in a single vortex of the superconducting topological crystalline insulator SnTe. Furthermore, the MZM hybridization could be manipulated using controlled methods that do not require real space movement or strong magnetic fields (Fig. 2). The experimental group at SJTU observed significant changes in the zero-bias peak, a strong indicator of MZMs, in the SnTe/Pb heterostructure under tilted magnetic fields (Fig 2a-b). The HKUST theoretical team subsequently performed extensive numerical simulations that unambiguously demonstrated the anisotropic responses to tilted magnetic fields indeed originate from crystal-symmetry-protected MZMs. By utilizing the kernel polynomial method, they successfully simulated large vortex systems with hundreds of millions of orbitals, enabling further exploration of novel properties in vortex systems beyond just crystal-symmetry-protected MZMs. This joint research led by Profs. Liu, Jia, and Li opens a new frontier for detection and manipulation of crystal-symmetry-protected multiple MZMs. Their findings pave the way for the experimental demonstration of non-Abelian statistics, and the construction of new types of topological qubits and quantum gates based on crystal-symmetry-protected multiple MZMs.                                                       Fig. 2 Signatures of crystal-symmetry-protected MZMs. (a, b) Spatially resolved tunnelling conductance spectra in tilted magnetic fields. (c-h) Simulated local density of states for vortex states in tilted magnetic fields. This groundbreaking work was published in the article Nature 633, 71 (2024) titled “Signatures of hybridization of multiple Majorana zero modes in a vortex” with Prof. Junwei Liu (HKUST), Prof. Yaoyi Li (SJTU), and Prof. Jinfeng Jia (SJTU) as corresponding authors and Mr. Chun Yu Wan (HKUST), Dr. Tengteng Liu (SJTU), and Dr. Hao Yang (SJTU) as the co-first authors. The work was supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality, the Innovation program for Quantum Science and Technology, the China National Postdoctoral Program for Innovative Talents, and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council. Read more

Congratulations to Hari Harilela Assistant Professor of Physics Hoi Chun Adrian Po, who was awarded a prestigious Asian Young Scientist Fellowship (AYSF). The AYSF scheme aims to encourage and support young scientists in Asia to carry out creative and transformative research in the fields of Life Science, Physical Science, and Mathematics and Computer Science. Prof. Po is a condensed matter theoretical physicist. His interests broadly lie in the collective phenomena that arise when a large number of quantum particles interact and the intriguing interplay between symmetry, topology, and locality that can arise in quantum materials.   Prof. Po joined HKUST as an Assistant Professor of Physics in 2021. After obtaining his bachelor’s degree from the Chinese University in 2013, Prof. Po received an M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and graduated from Harvard University with a Ph.D. in 2018. He was a Pappalardo Postdoctoral Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology following his graduation until he joined HKUST. Read more: School of Science News 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

PLANCKS“Physics League Across Numerous Countries for Kick-Ass Students” is an annual international theoretical physics competition for undergraduate and master’s students that is overseen by the International Association of Physics Students (IAPS). This competition brings together teams of three to four students during a three-day conference for intense competition and a programme of social, cultural, and educational events. Following their selection to represent Hong Kong by excelling in a preliminary round of competition organized by the Physical Society of Hong Kong, a team of students studying physics at HKUST participated in the international finals of the PLANCKS competition that was hosted by the Institute of Physics at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland on 23-27 May 2024. The members of the team, who chose to the moniker “Non-renormalizable Theorists”, were Kwan To CHAN (year 4), Ching FONG (year 3), Xuan Tan NGUYEN (year 4), and Dao Cong Minh TRANG (year 2). The Non-renormalizable Theorists proudly placed 10th among 48 seasoned teams from 28 countries and regions in Europe, Asia, North and South America that participated in PLANCKS this year. The accompanying photos show the (i) the PLANCKS organizers and participants, (ii) the HKUST team solving problems in the competition venue, and (iii) the HKUST physics students who comprised the team (left to right): Xuan Tan Nguyen, Kwan To Chan, Dong Cong Minh Trang, and Ching Fong. Additional links:
PLANCKS press release
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LinkedIn: @plancks-uk-ire
Instagram: @plancks24 
Facebook: @PLANCKS2024 Read more