Four outstanding scientists from the Department of Physics (PHY), City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK) have been awarded funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for 2024, comprising one-eighth of all CityUHK’s NSFC funding awardees. Among them, Professor Junzhang Ma and Professor Zhedong Zhang were each awarded RMB2 million from the “Excellent Young Scientists Fund”.
Professor Ma was awarded for the project titled “Angle Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Characterisation of Quantum Materials”. Professor Ma’s selected project explores collective excitation effects in condensed matter using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. He also has a series of research achievements. The group explored stable mobile excitonic states in one-dimensional metals through experiments and developed a corresponding theoretical model. They also discovered unpaired Weyl points in solid materials that exceed the Nielsen-Ninomiya no-go theorem; and they hypothesised that spin fluctuations in magnetic Dirac semimetals can effectively break local time-reversal symmetry, leading to the generation of fluctuating Weyl fermions. Additionally, they observed three-component fermions and their associated surface Fermi arcs in solid states, confirming the existence of unconventional fermions beyond Dirac and Weyl analogues in high-energy physics. Notably, they made the first observation of hourglass fermions on the surface of nonsymmorphic topological insulators. With the funding support, Professor Ma plans to further investigate the new electronic states of low-dimensional correlated systems and topological systems, as well as their tunability, through experimental methods.
Professor Zhang was awarded for the project titled “Quantum-light ultrafast spectroscopy for molecules”. This project aims to advance quantum-light ultrafast spectroscopy by integrating ultrafast spectroscopy with quantum optics. The goal is to study the highly excited-state dynamics of molecules and improve the resolution, sensitivity and selectivity of spectroscopy to address the challenge of time-frequency scales in ultrafast spectroscopy. Professor Zhang’s team developed the nonlinear optical spectroscopy in conjunction with quantum states of light, focusing on strong molecule-light coupling effects. They proposed quantum femtosecond Raman spectroscopy using entangled photons, demonstrating high time and frequency scales beyond the Heisenberg limit. Moreover, they developed a microscopic theory for the multidimensional spectroscopy of molecular polaritons, clarifying the role of dark states. In the field of statistical mechanics, Professor Zhang and his team developed the quantum theory of the nonequilibrium Bose condensation and introduced the topological graph theory into quantum physics, solving the problems of describing the nonequilibrium phase transitions and the stability of quantum entanglement.
A total of thirty-two outstanding scientists from CityUHK have been awarded funding from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) for 2024. The PHY awardees are:
Excellent Young Scientists Fund
| Awardee | Project Title | Amount of funding (RMB) |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Junzhang Ma | Angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy characterisation of quantum materials | 2,000,000 |
| Professor Zhedong Zhang | Quantum-light ultrafast spectroscopy for molecules | 2,000,000 |
General Programme
| Awardee | Project Title | Amount of funding (RMB) |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Zhedong Zhang | Theoretical study of relaxation dynamics of molecular polaritons using multidimensional spectroscopy | 530,000 |
| Professor Sunny Wang Xin | Theoretical studies on optimal control of silicon-based quantum devices | 520,000 |
Young Scientists Fund
| Awardee | Project Title | Amount of funding (RMB) |
|---|---|---|
| Professor Ge Zhang | Correlation between generalization error and statistical-physical entropy in neural networks | 300,000 |
The “Excellent Young Scientists Fund”, which has been open to researchers from Hong Kong and Macao since 2019, supports young scholars who have achieved notable results in basic research.
The “Young Scientists Fund”, which has accepted applications from Hong Kong scholars since 2022, nurtures young scholars’ ability to undertake innovative projects independently.
“General Programme” supports scientists engaged in basic research on self-selected topics within the funding scope of NSFC to conduct innovative research and promote a balanced, coordinated and sustained development of all disciplines.
Congratulations to the above awardees for their well-earned recognition in breaking boundaries of knowledge through persistent research efforts. We wish them continued success in their research endeavours.
26 November 2024