Our faculty members publish their works in prestigious research journals. Take a look at what we have been working on here.
Department Highlights
Celebration of Physics - A Successful Symposium
3 June 2019Our very first Department of Physics Annual Symposium was successfully held on 22 May 2019. The symposium, named “Celebration of Physics,” was designed to bring together the students and faculty members in our department to celebrate their achievements in the academic year.
Joint laboratory on neutron scattering co-established by CityU and CAS officially opens
5 Mar 2019Research into neutron scattering in Hong Kong will benefit with the opening on 27 February of a joint laboratory co-established by City University of Hong Kong (CityU) and the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences
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Fun STEM @ CityU Physics 2018
15 Jan 2019Fun STEM @ CityU Physics 2018 (物趣 STEM 在城大 2018) was successfully held on 28 December 2018.
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Spectroscopy and Imaging
Aqueous Li-ion battery enabled by halogen conversion–intercalation chemistry in graphite
More recently, defect-engineering has been demonstrated as a facile but effective route to boost electrocatalytic performance. In this work, an activity-enhanced MnO2 catalyst with abundant oxygen vacancies and edges is developed by Ar-plasma strategy to enhance the electrochemical performance of Al-air batteries. Based on the detailed morphology and structure analysis, rich defects are successfully induced on the surface of MnO2 nanowires, and the defect-engineered MnO2 catalyst displays higher activities (more positive reduction potential and larger reduction current density) towards oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared with pristine MnO2. However, excessively high defects can work against the ORR catalytic enhancement due to the structure distortion. The resultant Al-air battery displays higher voltage, larger power density and better durability. The remarkable ORR activity is due to the formation of defective active sites, which is beneficial for the oxygen species adsorption and activation of O-O bond, confirmed by DFT calculation. This strategy represents a new route for the development of non-noble Electrocatalyst for Al-air batteries.
Read more at Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-019-1175-6
09 May 2019
Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics
Laser cavity-soliton microcombs
Microcavity-based frequency combs, or ‘microcombs’ have enabled many fundamental breakthroughs through the discovery of temporal cavity-solitons. These self-localized waves, described by the Lugiato-Lefever equation, are sustained by a background of radiation usually containing 95% of the total power. Simple methods for their efficient generation and control are currently being investigated to finally establish microcombs as out-of-the-lab tools. Here, we demonstrate microcomb laser cavity-solitons.
Laser cavity solitons are intrinsically background-free and have underpinned key breakthroughs in semiconductor lasers. By merging their properties with the physics of multimode systems, we provide a new paradigm for soliton generation and control in microcavities. We demonstrate 50-nm-wide bright soliton combs induced at average powers more than one order of magnitude lower than the Lugiato–Lefever soliton power threshold, measuring a mode efficiency of 75% versus the theoretical limit of 5% for bright Lugiato–Lefever solitons. Finally, we can tune the repetition rate by well over a megahertz without any active feedback.
Read more at Nature Photonics: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41566-019-0379-5
11 Mar 2019
Education
Our Programmes
We aim to equip our students with knowledge and critical thinking skills that benefit them in physical-science-related careers and beyond. Explore our programmes below!
