International Day of Light 2019 is an annual observance on which people share their enthusiasm for light. The International Day of Light is a global initiative that provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education, and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications, and energy. The broad theme of light will allow many different sectors of society worldwide to participate in activities that demonstrates how science, technology, art and culture can help achieve the goals of UNESCO – education, equality, and peace.

The students in Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech) are participating in this grand celebration of light. Many undergraduates have joined the Optical Society of America (OSA) student chapter at SUSTech to promote optical knowledge and provide community service. Through the support of their supervising teacher, Associate Professor Dan Luo from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, most of them have joined research teams across campus and participated in scientific research on optics.

Sophomore student Zixuan Zhao is studying in the multi-functional optical imaging lab (MFOIL) established by Associate Professor Lei Xi from the Department of Biomedical Engineering. While she hasn’t yet developed an independent project, she mainly focuses on helping senior students develop unique photoacoustic imaging (PAI) techniques, and seeking associated clinical applications. PAI utilizes pulsed light absorbed by specific biological tissues to produce acoustic waves. These are then recorded by acoustic detectors to generate images.

Zixuan is working with her research colleagues to effectively improve the low resolution and shallow imaging depth. They are also developing innovative scanning mechanisms and devices, investigation of brain functions, derivation of hemoglobin-related parameters in rodents, and visualization of cell structures with ultra-high resolution multispectral photoacoustic microscopy. Zixuan hopes that she can learn something useful in the PAI field during her undergraduate study so that she can have a deeper understanding of both optics and acoustics.

Freshman Yibin Liu has joined the Lab for Information Photonics and Sensing (LIPS) led by Prof Liyang Shao from the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. The group is focused mainly on new micro-structured fiber/fiber lasers and their sensing applications, distributed optical sensing technology, microwave photon sensing and measurement technology, OCT and ultra-fast real-time detection technology. LIPS is also conducting research on applications for optical information and sensing technology for marine monitoring, rail transit, perimeter security, bridge and tunnel safety monitoring.

Yibin spends all his spare time in the research of distributed optical sensing. He has mastered many relevant skills through his hard work. He said that the experience in LIPS has taught him more about academia life. He has found his interest in optical fiber research. He was tightly attracted by the beauty of optical fiber field.

Zhenkun Fan is studying high power fiber laser and THz technology in the research group of Professor Xinhai Zhang, known as the laboratory of fiber laser technology (FLT). Lasers are regarded as one of the greatest inventions of 20^th century, and have seen dramatic changes in a wide variety of industries. Fiber lasers are superior to gas and solid lasers due to lower power, higher conversion efficiency and increased stability. High power fiber laser has been adopted for commercial purposes, particularly in material processing and marking. The laboratory applied MOPA structure which is capable of improving nonlinear effect management, heat dissipation and providing favorable stability.

THz is a frequency band between infrared (IR) and microwaves. It exhibits both the property of IR and microwave, resulting in the wide array of commercial applications. As a powerful research tool, THz spectrometry can respond to the lattice or molecular performance of materials. This helps reveal the inner physical mechanism of their macroscopic properties. In the lab, Zhenkun applies THz to demonstrate the feature of many kinds of substance. Research on THz devices is also being investigated, like the study on THz emission sources, which is a challenging research topic in this field. 

Junior student Silong Li is doing research in Assistant Professor Zhaojun Liu’s research group. The main research direction of the group is Micro-LED and their applications. He excitedly spoke about how Micro-LED has become a research hotspot as an emerging display technology. They had developed rapidly and are becoming ready for commercialization.

He is also devoting his mind towards nano-LEDs. They are working to make devices to test the performance of nano-LEDs by focused ion beams, probe stations and other equipment. As a nanoscale light source, they can be used in photonic chips. Moreover, it is thought that they can be used in quantum computing because they can generate entangled photons with a high degree of polarization.

He thinks that light is a wonderful thing. God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. Now he can generate and control light. He is also able to use the light in display, communication and even computing. It is very interesting for him to fabricate optoelectronic devices and manipulate light.