Xiong-Jun Liu
Peking University
Citation: For his fundamental breakthrough in the quantum simulation of synthetic gauge fields and topological phases with ultracold atoms, and discovery of symmetry-protected non-Abelian statistics of Majorana modes.
Bio: Dr. Xiong-Jun Liu is a Boya Distinguished Professor of physics at Peking University. He received Ph.D from Texas A&M University in 2011, worked as a postdoctoral fellow in University of Maryland, HKUST, and MIT from 2011 to 2014. He joined the faculty of Peking University in 2014, became tenured in 2018, and was promoted to a full professor in 2019. Dr. Liu’s research includes ultracold atoms and condensed matter theory, focusing on topological quantum matter and topological quantum computing, synthetic gauge fields, and quantum many-body dynamics. He is a pioneer in quantum simulation of synthetic gauge fields and topological phases in ultracold atoms, proposed the first model for atomic spin Hall effect, pioneered the synthesis of two-dimensional Dirac-type and three-dimensional Weyl-type spin-orbit couplings, and realized the fundamental models for quantum anomalous Hall phase and Weyl semimetals in optical lattices. He proved that Majorana zero modes in time-reversal symmetric topological superconductors obey non-Abelian statistics and further introduced the concept of symmetry-protected non-Abelian statistics. He also proposed a series of exactly solvable models, known as mosaic models, for Anderson localization and quantum critical states by introducing the Field’s medal work, Avila global theory, to ultracold atoms and condensed matter physics, and proved the existence of many-body critical phases. He was awarded the NSFC Distinguished Young Scholars in 2018 and the “Plus” NSFC Distinguished Young Scholar in 2024. He also received Chen-Ning Yang Award from AAPPS-APCTP in 2019, and Chou-Pei Yuan Physics Prize from Chinese Physical Society in 2023.