Research Overview

The research in our group focuses on mesoscopic physics and optoelectronics especially in the platforms of optical waveguides and microcavities. Ultrahigh-Q optical microcavities have become intriguing testbeds for light-matter interactions owing to their strong confinement of light field. The miniaturized nano-/micro-fibers are demonstrated with many intriguing properties, such as the strong light field confinement, large surface evanescent fields, tunable dispersion and mechanical configurability. We hope to explore the fundamental light-matter interactions at the nano-/micro-scale, and realize novel optical and optoelectronic applications.

Microcavity optics

Thanks to the strongly enhanced light-matter interactions, ultrahigh-Q microcavities have shown great potentials in ultrasensitive sensors, low-threshold microlasers, nonlinear optics and quantum optics. The current projects include:

1.  Nonlinear optics

2.  Optical sensing and measurement                             

3.  Transformation cavities

References:

1.   Jin-hui Chen#, Xiaoqin Shen#, Shui-Jing Tang, Qi-Tao Cao, Qihuang Gong, and Yun-Feng Xiao, Microcavity nonlinear optics with an organically functionalized surface, Phys. Rev. Lett., 123, 173902 (2019).

2. Qingtao Ba, Yangyang Zhou, Jue Li, Wen Xiao, Longfang Ye, Yineng Liu, Jin-hui Chen*, Huanyang Chen*, Conformal optical black hole for cavity, eLight, 2, 19 (2022). 

3. Daquan Yang^#, Jin-hui Chen^#, Qi-Tao Cao^#, Bing Duan, Hao-Jing Chen, Xiao-Chong Yu, and Yun-Feng Xiao, Operando monitoring of transition dynamics in responsive polymer using optofluidic microcavities, Light Sci. Appl., 10, 128 (2021).

4. Jinlong Du^#, Jin-hui Chen^#, Yuehui Li^#, Ruochen Shi, Mei Wu, Yun-Feng Xiao, Peng Gao, Electron microscopy probing electron-photon interactions in SiC nanowires with ultra-wide energy and momentum match, Nano Lett., 22, 6207 (2022).

5. Jin-hui Chen^#, Wen Xiao^#, Sheng-ke Zhu, Pei-Ji Zhang, Qi-Tao Cao, Chao-fan Shen, Cheng-Wei Qiu*, Huanyang Chen, and Yun-Feng Xiao, Anomalous optical whispering-gallery mode induced by rotational symmetry breaking, Phys. Rev. A 109, 013508 (2024).

Waveguide optics

The fast development of optical communications have been built on the ultralow-loss optical fiber network. While the optical fibers simply transmit the light signals in the optical communications system, they have also found extended applications in various fields, such as the optical imaging, distributed sensing, fiber lasers and nonlinear optics. The current projects include:

1.  Optical fiber-integrated optoelectronic devices

2.  Nonlinear optics

3.  Optical sensors

References:

1. Jin-hui Chen, Yi-feng Xiong, Fei Xu, and Yan-qing Lu, Silica optical fiber integrated with two-dimensional materials: towards opto-electro-mechanical technology, Light Sci. Appl., 10, 78 (2021).

2.  Jin-hui Chen, Jun Tan, Guang-xing Wu, Xue-jin Zhang, Fei Xu and Yan-qing Lu, Tunable and enhanced light emission in hybrid WS₂-optical-fiber-nanowire structure, Light Sci. Appl., 8, 8 (2019).

3.  Jin-hui Chen, Bi-cai Zheng, Guang-hao Shao, Shi-jun Ge, Fei Xu, and Yan-qing Lu, An all-optical modulator based on a stereo graphene-microfiber structure, Light Sci. Appl., 4, e360 (2015). 

4.  Jin-hui Chen, Qiang Jing, Fei Xu, Zhen-da Lu, and Yan-qing Lu, High-sensitivity optical-fiber-compatible photodetector with an integrated CsPbBr₃–graphene hybrid structure, Optica, 4, 835-838 (2017).

5. Xiaojuan Huang, Yi-fan Cheng, Huan Liu, Xiaoqing Chang, Guiyang Gao, Zerui Yan, Qian-qian Wu, Yunpeng Zhong, Gen Chen, Zhangquan Peng, Dong-Liang Peng, Jin-hui Chen*, Guiming Zhong*, Qiulong Wei*, Interlayer confined capacitive response via solvated cointercalation in graphite layers, ACS Nano, 19, 7168 (2025).

Disodered photonics

Disordered structures are ubiquitous in our daily life. Compared with ordered structures, there are plenty of room for studying light-matter interactions with disordered structures, which contains abundant degrees of freedom. In fundamental optical physics, the Anderson localizations due to strong disorder, and branched flow induced by weakly correlated disorder; for practical applications, disordered photonics empower the efficient solar cells, high-fidelity encryption, in-depth imaging, et. The current projects include:

1.  Statistical light transport e.g. branched flow, diffusion

2.  Multidimensional light field detections

3.  Wavefront shaping

References:

1.  Shan-shan Chang, Ke-Hui Wu, Si-jia Liu, Zhi-Kang Lin, Jin-bing Wu, Shi-jun Ge, Lu-Jian Chen, Peng Chen, Wei Hu, Yadong Xu, Huanyang Chen, Dahai He, Da-Quan Yang, Jian-Hua Jiang*, Yan-qing Lu*, Jin-hui Chen*, Electrical tuning of branched flow of light, Nat. Commun., 15, 197 (2024).

2. Sheng-ke Zhu, Ze-huan Zheng, Weijia Meng, Shan-shan Chang, Yingling Tan, Lu-Jian Chen*, Xinyuan Fang*, Min Gu & Jin-hui Chen*, Harnessing disordered photonics via multi-task learning towards intelligent four-dimensional light field sensors, PhotoniX, 4, 26 (2023).

3.  Xiao Yu^#, Shan-shan Chang^#, Zi-Ye Wang, Jiao Liu, Xing-Zhou Tang, Jin-hui Chen*, Bing-Xiang Li* and Yan-Qing Lu*, Dynamic transition from branched flow of light to beam steering in disordered nematic liquid crystal, Laser Photonics Rev., 18, 2400366 (2024).

4. Chao-fan Shen, Tuqiang Pan, Yinghao Wei, Sheng-ke Zhu, Yi Xu*, Ai-Hua Li*, Huanyang Chen, Jin-hui Chen*, Intelligent optical fiber-integrated near-infrared polarimeter based on upconversion nanoparticles, Adv. Opt. Mater., 11, 2301259 (2023).

5. Ze-huan Zheng, Shengke Zhu, Ying Chen, Huanyang Chen* and Jin-hui Chen*, Towards integrated mode-division demultiplexing spectrometer by deep learning, Opto-Electron. Sci., 1, 220012 (2022).