BEIJING, Nov. 2 (Xinhua) — Chinese scientist Xue Qikun has lately gained the 2024 Oliver E. Buckley Condensed Matter Physics Prize, a world award that acknowledges excellent contributions to condensed matter physics, in response to the American Physical Society.
“I was very excited when I heard the news. As a physicist, I’m very proud to be recognized by the international physics community and to play a role in raising the level of China’s physics in the world,” mentioned Xue in a latest interview with Xinhua.
He and his crew have been the primary to experimentally observe the quantum anomalous Hall impact in 2012, they usually revealed their findings within the journal Science in 2013. The journal’s reviewer described the findings as “a landmark work in condensed matter physics.”
Yang Zhenning, winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, known as it “the first physics paper of Nobel Prize level published by a Chinese lab.”
Xue was born in 1962 and grew up in a mountainous space in east China’s Shandong Province. He obtained a grasp’s diploma and a doctorate in condensed matter physics from the Institute of Physics beneath the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
After finding out and dealing in Japan and the United States for eight years, he returned to China in 1999 and labored at CAS and Tsinghua University. He was the vice chairman of Tsinghua University and is presently serving because the president of China’s Southern University of Science and Technology.
During his time at Tsinghua University, Xue earned the nickname “7-11 professor” as a consequence of his each day routine, which concerned coming into the laboratory at 7 a.m. and leaving at 11 p.m. He maintained this devoted work schedule for a few years, and nearly by no means took a weekend off.
“As far as I know, researchers of experimental physics who have made important achievements are all hard-working,” he mentioned.
His unwavering persistence is rooted in his early experiences as a scientist. It took him three makes an attempt to realize admission to graduate faculty, and he devoted seven years to earn his doctoral diploma. When finding out in Japan and the United States, he acquired used to working from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. day by day.
He persevered by way of these years, cultivating a diligent work ethic for his analysis. Upon returning to China, he persistently labored for over 330 days a yr, dedicating roughly 15 hours a day, totaling round 5,000 hours yearly.
“If you can complete an experiment under a specific condition every 50 hours, you can do it under 100 different conditions every year. Over time, you must be at the forefront of this field,” he mentioned.
While working at Tsinghua University, Xue began to deal with the quantum anomalous Hall impact, an essential quantum impact in condensed matter physics idea that may change the trajectory of electrons and cut back vitality loss of their motion.
This discovery will contribute to creating low-power consumption electronics. However, at the moment, nobody had noticed it within the laboratory. Numerous analysis groups worldwide have been striving to make a breakthrough on this high-potential space of research.
Supported by the nation and Tsinghua University, Xue and his crew arrange an experiment platform to hitch the race for discovery.
When the crew began the experiment, they have been unsure in regards to the end result and whether or not they may observe the impact, very like racing on an unmarked course with none clear steerage.
In idea, the quantum anomalous Hall impact could be realized in topological insulators, however it’s fairly troublesome to provide topological insulator supplies that meet the experimental necessities in labs.
At first, the crew tried the technical routes utilized by worldwide friends however persistently failed. The crew then explored the totally different parts and buildings to organize supplies. In 4 years, Xue and his crew had ready and measured about 1,000 samples.
In October 2012, one evening, Xue obtained a textual content message from his crew members. They had efficiently noticed the hint of the quantum anomalous Hall impact within the lab.
After days of assessments and verification, the crew confirmed the invention. Xue introduced two bottles of champagne to the lab and posed for a gaggle photograph together with his crew to have fun the numerous breakthrough.
He attributed the findings to researchers’ primary data, tutorial functionality, experimental expertise, the instinct of scientists, long-term onerous work and persistence, in addition to the growing help for primary analysis from the nation.
This discovery marks solely the midpoint of his profession. His crew is now specializing in additional analysis associated to quantum anomalous Hall impact and topological insulators, which is able to beef up the event of the fundamental idea of physics and associated disciplines.
According to Xue, to do a great job in scientific analysis, we have to have a spirit of in search of reality from information, and to unravel a serious scientific downside, we have to be ready to work onerous for a very long time.