School of Physics

The School of Physics has a rich history, tracing its roots back to the Department of Science established in 1923 at Zhongzhou University and the Department of Mathematics and Physics founded in 1951 at Pingyuan Normal College. As one of the earliest established departments at our university, it is the only physics department to have maintained continuous operation for a century in Henan Province.

The School houses two National First-class Undergraduate Major Construction Points: Physics and Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering. It also holds two doctoral degree authorization sites for the first-level disciplines of Physics and Optical Engineering, along with two postdoctoral mobile research stations. Currently, the School accommodates 56 postdoctoral fellows, 598 doctoral and master’s students, and 1387 undergraduate students. The undergraduate promotion rate consistently remains around 50%, while the employment rate for graduates at the bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels exceeds 95%. Over the years, the School has cultivated a large number of high-caliber professionals, including 1 academician, 10 National Distinguished Young Scholars, and 26 other nationally recognized talents.

The School consists of 154 faculty members, including 23 professors, 38 associate professors, and 25 doctoral supervisors. It also boasts 2 dual-appointment academicians, 2 National Distinguished Young Scholars, 1 National Outstanding Youtht, 1 Young Cheung Kong Scholar, 6 recipients of the State Council Government Special Allowance, 1 Central Plains Scholar, 2 provincial outstanding experts, and 5 provincial specially appointed professors. Over 50 faculty members have received provincial and ministerial-level honors, such as National Outstanding Science and Technology Workers, National Outstanding Teachers, and National Ten Thousand Talents Program Leading Talents. Since the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, the School has secured 42 projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, totaling 43.75 million yuan in funding. It has published 516 SCI papers, won three second-class and one third-class Provincial Natural Science Awards.

The School is equipped with national and provincial research platforms, including the National Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center for University Physics and the Provincial Key Laboratory for Infrared Spectroscopy Measurement and Application. With a total building area of 26,000 square meters dedicated to teaching and research, the School provides a comprehensive infrastructure and modern teaching and research equipment. Physics is ranked among the top 1% globally by ESI and has been selected as Henan Province’s only “Double First-Class” construction discipline, receiving an annual funding of 100 million yuan.

Introduction to Research Teams and Achievements

1. Semiconductor Photoelectric Physics and Device Research Team

The Semiconductor Photoelectric Physics and Device Research Team focuses on the fields of low-dimensional semiconductor photoelectric properties, information storage, wide bandgap semiconductors, and power devices. We conduct relevant scientific research, technology development, and personnel training to support the development of the semiconductor industry in China and Henan Province.

The research building covers about 1,500 square meters and houses over 30 advanced semiconductor preparation and characterization instruments, such as a pulsed laser deposition system, electron beam exposure machine, dry etching machine, B1500 semiconductor performance tester, electron beam coating machine, etc. The laboratory currently has 36 fixed members, including 2 provincial special professors, 11 professors, 2 provincial science and technology innovation outstanding talents, and 2 provincial college science and technology innovation talents, forming a research team with a balanced age and title structure. More than 10 projects have been approved by the National Natural Science Foundation, and 200 papers have been published in international journals such as Advanced Materials, Advanced Functional Materials, and Physical Review review b et al. Several achievements have been authorized by Chinese invention patents.

Research Directions:

1) Theory research on photoelectric properties and device physics of low-dimensional semiconductors.

2) Two-dimensional semiconductor optoelectronic devices.

3) Photoelectric neuromorphics.

2. Team of Infrared Radiation Spectroscopy Measurement

The Team of Infrared Radiation Spectroscopy Measurement began jointly cultivating doctoral students with the School of Optoelectronics at Beijing Institute of Technology in 2008. Based on this team, Henan Normal University obtained first-class master’s degree authorization in optical engineering in 2011, first-class doctoral degree authorization in Optical Engineering in 2018 (the first group in Henan Province), and was approved as a postdoctoral mobile station in Optical Engineering in 2019. The Optical Engineering discipline at Henan Normal University has formed an integrated talent training system encompassing undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, and postdoctoral levels. The discipline has established the Henan Key Laboratory of Infrared Spectrum Measures and Applications, with 50 million yuan invested in hardware construction and complete experimental equipment.

The discipline mainly focuses on three research directions: infrared physics and technology, laser technology and measurement, and optoelectronic materials and devices. It has distinct research characteristics in areas such as infrared spectral emissivity measurement, infrared radiation temperature measurement, and fiber optic sensing. The discipline currently has 22 members, including 2 professors and 4 associate professors. Among the members are one Zhongyuan scholar and one recipient of the Henan Province Outstanding Youth Fund. Team members have published over 40 SCI-indexed articles in journals such as Photonics Research and Optics Express, and have led more than 10 projects, including the National Major Scientific Research Instrument Development Project, Joint Fund Key Projects, and National Natural Science Foundation of China General Projects.

Main Research Directions:

1) Infrared radiation temperature measurement technology.

2) Infrared spectral emissivity measurement.

3) Spectral emissivity control and measurement.

3. Theoretical Physics Center

The Theoretical Physics Center of Henan Normal University is a renowned research center for theoretical physics and experimental particle physics in China. With about 34 staff members, including 2 outstanding youth scholars (Prof. Ya-Dong Yang and Prof. Jin-Min Yang), 1 excellent youth scholar, and 1 Yangtze River scholar, the center boasts 5 doctoral supervisors and 23 master supervisors. We participate in three international collaborations: BESIII at IHEP, Belle-II, and Belle at SuperKEKB.

The center has consolidated three major fields: theoretical physics, experimental particle physics, and hardware development. The research interests in theoretical physics include:

1) Higgs Physics

2) Heavy Flavor Physics

3) Cosmology and Gravitational Waves

The experimental particle physics team is engaged in BESIII, Belle-II, and Belle experiments, focusing on:

1) (Semi-)leptonic charm decays and charmed hadronic decays

2) XYZ states

3) Charmonium decays

4) Searches for new physics beyond the Standard Model

In terms of hardware, we have a computer cluster with 1.5 PB of memory and a cosmic ray testing platform. We plan to invest in additional high-energy physics instruments to study ultra-light boson dark matter detection under extremely low temperatures and strong magnetic fields. We have published many high-quality papers in top international journals such as PRL, JHEP, EPJC, PRD, and JCAP. Our research is supported by two National Key Projects from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, 1 National Key R&D Program task from the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and several National Youth Programs from the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

4. Ultrafast Group

Our group investigates novel ultrafast physical phenomena and novel optoelectronic devices in classical and quantum systems. We employ various methods from materials growth, device fabrication, and measurements, including pump-probe spectroscopy from femtosecond to nanosecond timescales, to comprehensively characterize fundamental properties. We explore new materials with unconventional properties that have potential applications in light-emitting and energy collection, such as optical materials, electronic materials, quantum matter, and spintronic systems. We focus on the detection and manipulation of relevant charge/spin transfer processes and quantum effects for excitonic devices, quantum information, and quantum computation. The principal investigator is Professor Chaochao Qin (qinchaochao@htu.edu.cn).

Current Research Topics:

l Ultrafast dynamics of excitons and excited states.

l Research and development of pump-probe technology.

l Quantum dots, 2D and quasi-2D materials.

l Novel devices based on optoelectronic and quantum materials.