Director
Xiang Zhang
Director
Professor Xiang Zhang is HKU’s President and Vice-Chancellor. He is the sixteenth leader appointed to this role, beginning in July 2018.
Born in Nanjing in China’s Jiangsu province, he credits his parents for embedding discovery and divergent thinking at the center of his learning experience. XLab, his team of students, researchers, and visiting scientists, was so named “not because we’re mutants, but because we’re searched deeply for non-traditional research topics”, he says. “X stands for explore, for experiment, and for excellence.”
A world leader in nanophotonics and material physics, Professor Zhang developed the first optical superlens — breaking the diffraction limit and transforming understanding of imaging technology. He also pioneered the field of plasmonic lithography with important implications for microelectronics and data storage. Notably, he invented the world’s first optical “invisibility cloak”, achieving a historic leap from imagination to reality. This earned him a place on TIME’s “Top 10 Scientific Discoveries” of 2008 alongside NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander and China’s first spacewalk.
Professor Zhang sees his role not only as President and Vice-Chancellor, but as “mentor, colleague, and friend”. He is committed to fostering an intellectually vibrant landscape at HKU that is underpinned by curiosity, critical thinking, and compassionate values. This, he says, will allow students, staff, and faculty to thrive together in a new and complex global century.
Among others, he is a recipient of the Fitzroy Medal, Julius Springer Prize, Max Born Award, and the Eringen Medal which includes five Nobel laureates among its past winners. He is an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, and an elected foreign member of organizations including the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Academia Sinica.
Members
Chao Xiang
向超
Silicon Photonics
Semiconductor Lasers
Photonic Integrated Circuits
Heterogeneous Integration
Che Ting Chan
陳子亭
Theoretical Physics
Metamaterials
Photonic Crystals
Computational Physics
Dangyuan Lei
雷黨願
Quantum Nanophotonics
Nonlinear Nanophotonics
Low-dimensional Quantum Materials
Light–Matter Interaction
Din Ping Tsai
蔡定平
Meta-devices
Quantum Information Technology
Nano-photonics
Micro/Nano Fabrication
Dong-Keun Ki
奇東槿
Quantum Transport
Low-dimensional Systems
Two-dimensional Materials
Topological Materials
Han Wang
汪涵
Advanced Semiconductors
Microelectronics
AI Hardware
Emerging Semiconductor Devices
Jiannong Wang
王建農
Condensed Matter Physics
Material Physics
Semiconductor Spintronics
Two-dimensional Materials
Maohai Xie
謝茂海
Condensed Matter Physics
Molecular Beam Epitaxy
Surface Science
Two-dimensional Materials
Mingxin Huang
黃明欣
Advanced Alloy Materials
Microstructure–Property Relationship
Phase Transformation
Semiconductor Materials
Wendi Li
李文迪
Advanced Nanofabrication
Nanophotonics
Nanoelectronics
Micro/Nanofabrication
Nick (Nicholas Xuanlai) Fang
方絢萊
Nanodevices
Advanced Manufacturing
Wave Functional Materials
Micro/Nanotechnology
Ning Wang
王寧
Low-dimensional Structures
Electronic Transport
Electron Microscopy
Moiré Superlattices
Sen Yang
楊森
Solid-state Quantum Information
Quantum Optics
Color Centers in Diamond
Quantum Sensing
Shizhong Zhang
張世忠
Ultra-cold Atomic Gases
Strongly Correlated Systems
Quantum Many-body Physics
Superfluidity
Shuang Zhang
張霜
Metamaterials
Metasurfaces
Nanophotonics
Topological Photonics
Shunqing Shen
沈順清
Condensed Matter Theory
Spin Transport
Topological Insulators
Quantum Magnetism
Tengteng Chen
陳藤藤
Physical Chemistry
Ultrafast Spectroscopy
Materials Chemistry
Polariton Chemistry
Tran Trung Luu
Ultrafast Optics
Attosecond Science
Strong-field Laser Physics
High-order Harmonic Generation
Wang Yao
姚望
Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics
Quantum Physics
2D Materials
Valleytronics and Spintronics
Xi Dai
戴希
Strongly Correlated Materials
Computational Materials Science
Quantum Magnetism
Topological Materials
Xiang Zhang
張翔
Materials Physics
Metamaterials
Nano-photonics
Two-dimensional Materials
Xiaobo Yin
尹曉波
Nanostructured Optical Materials
Radiative Heat Transfer
High-temperature Materials
Scalable Manufacturing
Xiaodong Cui
崔曉冬
Spintronics
Nano-Electronics
Low-dimensional Materials
Spin and Valley Physics
Yang Lu
陸洋
Micro/Nanomechanics
In Situ Electron Microscopy
Nano-Manufacturing
Mechanical Metamaterials
Yi Yang
楊易
Optical Physics
Nanophotonics
Light–Matter Interaction
Free-electron Optics
Zhendong Zhang
張振東
Ultracold Atomic Physics
Molecular Physics
Cavity QED
Quantum Many-body Physics
Zhong Wan
萬眾
Condensed Matter Experiments
Two-dimensional Materials
Strongly Correlated Systems
Quantum Transport
Zi Yang Meng
孟子楊
Quantum Many-body Computation
Quantum Materials
Computational Physics
Quantum Phase Transitions
Members are listed in alphabetical order according to their first names.