The Department of Physics is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Luk Kam-Biu Prize for Undergraduate Research and the 2024 Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Awards. The Luk Kam-Biu Prize is awarded to Zhiwei HE. The Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award is awarded to Ce ZHANG, and Honorable Mention is awarded to Yunchu LI.
Kam-Biu Luk Prize - Zhiwei HE
“For advancements that facilitate comparisons of nonlinear behaviors across various integrated photonic platforms and provide strategies to mitigate parasitic effects,” under the supervision of Dr. Wil Kao (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne).
Zhiwei He made significant contributions to the microwave-optical transduction efforts at the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) during his research exchange visit in the summer of 2024. In this project, he independently designed and constructed a laser frequency stabilization setup using the Pound-Drever-Hall (PDH) technique. With the functional PDH setup established, Zhiwei HE developed experimental methodologies for characterizing photorefractive effects in a range of ferroelectric materials. The methodologies he created are broadly applicable, extending beyond this specific project, and will facilitate systematic comparisons of nonlinear behaviors across various integrated photonic platforms. Mr. He’s research exchange visit to EPFL was facilitated by the International Research Enrichment Program of the School of Science. Mr. He was also the Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award Honorable Mention recipient in 2023.
Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award - Ce ZHENG
“For the growth of high quality MoTe2 with an improved method and for the construction of a new 2D transfer stage system,” under the supervision of Prof. Shiming Lei.
Ce Zheng was one of the first students to actively participate in the foundational phase of Prof. Shiming Lei’s lab development. During the Fall 2023 semester, he worked diligently alongside two other lab members to construct a home-built vacuum line, successfully testing its performance by growing initial testbed materials. Additionally, Ce Zheng contributed to the design and construction of a fully motorized 2D material transfer stage using components sourced from Taobao.com. To facilitate ease of operation, he also contributed to the development of a MATLAB GUI package that enables high-precision fabrication of 2D devices.
Paul and May Chu Undergraduate Research Award, Honorable Mention - Yunchu LI
“For the development of a low temperature diode laser system in a vacuum,” under the supervision of Prof. Gyu-Boong Jo.
Since joining Prof. Gyu-Boong Jo’s group, Yunchu Li has worked on various experimental projects in the ytterbium quantum gas experiment, including controlling a spatial light modulator and designing a direct digital synthesis system. More recently, Yunchu LI initiated a new research project to develop a home-built external cavity diode laser (ECDL) that can operate at temperatures below 0°C. This innovative approach allows the ECDL to function without concerns about laboratory humidity. Yunchu LI is currently summarizing this work into a manuscript that will be submitted for publication in due course.
