Dr. Qiancheng Zhao graduated from Zhejiang University with a bachelor’s degree in the College of Optical Science and Engineering in 2012. He received his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, Irvine, USA, in 2017. In 2021, Qiancheng joined the School of Microelectronics as an Assistant Professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Shenzhen, China. Prior to his appointment in SUSTech, he worked as a signal integrity engineer at Apple Inc. USA from 2017 to 2019. Then he joined the University of California, Santa Barbara, as a postdoctoral researcher from 2019 to 2021.

Dr. Zhao’s research focuses on photonic integrated circuits, including low-loss waveguides and integrated nonlinear devices. He has authored and co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed journal and conference papers and has given several invited talks at internal conferences. His works have been published in prestigious journals such as Optica, Advanced Optical Materials, Nanophotonics, ACS Photonics, APL Photonics, Optics Express, Optics Letters etc. He also edited a book named “Silicon Photonics Bloom”.

Group website: https://liconlab.ac.cn

Education Background

2017, Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of California, Irvine, USA

2012, B.Sc. in Optical Engineering, Minor in Advanced Honor Class of Engineering Education (ACEE), Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Professional Experience

2021.09 – Present, Assistant Professor, Southern University of Science and Technology, China

2019.06 – 2021.06, Postdoctoral Researcher, University of California, Santa Barbara, USA

2017.12 – 2019.06, Signal Integrity Engineer, Apple Inc. USA

Honors & Awards

Best Paper Award, IEEE 9th Optoelectronics Global Conference, 2024

Shenzhen Overseas High-Caliber Personnel (Level C), 2021

Individualized Professional Skills Award, UC Santa Barbara, 2021

Broadcom Fellowship, Broadcom Foundation, 2014

Graduate Fellowship, UC Irvine, 2012

Research Interest

Low-loss photonic integrated circuits, integrated nonlinear photonic devices, micro/nano-fabrication

Selected Research Publications

· Mingjian You#, Zhenyu Liu, Weiren Cheng, Xingyu Tang, Ning Ding, Zhengqi Li, Min Wang, Li Shen, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "Athermal Tantalum Pentoxide Mach-Zehnder Interferometers Based on Structural Compensation Method," IEEE Photonics Journal, 17(1), 1–8, 2025. [doi: 10.1109/JPHOT.2025.3534244] (IF 2.4)

· Zhenyu Liu#, Wenle Yao, Mingjian You, Xiaolun Yu, Ning Ding, Weiren Cheng, Zhengqi Li, Xingyu Tang, Fei Guo*, Dan Lu, and Qiancheng Zhao*, “Tantalum Pentoxide Integrated Photonics: A Promising Platform for Low-Loss Planar Lightwave Circuits with Low Thermo-Optic Coefficients”, ACS Photonics, 2025. [doi: 10.1021/acsphotonics.4c01485] (IF 6.5)

· Pengzhuo Wu, Xingyu Tang, Yatao Yang, Yifan Wang, Yongxian Yan, Ziyu Pan, Xucheng Zhang, Mingjian You, Zhenyu Liu, Changjing Bao, Xingchen Ji, Yi Li*, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "Asymmetric χ(2)-translated optical frequency combs assisted by avoided mode crossing in concentric ring resonators," Opt. Express, 32(19), 32924–32938, 2024. [doi: 10.1364/OE.531644] (IF 3.8)

· Yifan Wang#, Ziyu Pan#, Yongxian Yan#, Yatao Yang#, Wenhua Zhao, Ning Ding, Xingyu Tang, Pengzhuo Wu, Qiancheng Zhao*, and Yi Li*, "A review of gallium phosphide nanophotonics towards omnipotent nonlinear devices", Nanophotonics, 2024. [doi: 10.1515/nanoph-2024-0172] (IF 8.45)

· Zhaoting Geng#, Weiren Cheng#, Zhiwei Yan, Qiyuan Yi, Zhenyu Liu, Mingjian You, Xiaolun Yu, Pengzhuo Wu, Ning Ding, Xingyu Tang, Min Wang, Li Shen, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "Low-loss tantalum pentoxide photonics with a CMOS-compatible process", Opt. Express, 32(7), 12291–12302, 2024. [doi: 10.1364/OE.518545] (IF 3.8)

· Pengzhuo Wu, Weiren Cheng, Ning Ding, Xingyu Tang, Zhaoting Geng, Zhenyu Liu, Mingjian You, Xiaolun Yu, Yi Li*, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "Investigation of χ(2)-translated Optical Frequency Combs Tunability in Gallium Phosphide-on-Insulator Resonators", IEEE Photonics Journal 16, 1–8, 2024. [doi: 10.1109/JPHOT.2024.3365214] (IF 2.4)

· Yatao Yang, Yifan Wang, Yongxian Yan, Weiren Cheng, Qiancheng Zhao*, and Yi Li*, "On-Chip Single-Molecule Fluorescence Enhancement via Slotted Gallium Phosphide Nanodisks at Anapole States", Advanced Optical Materials, 2301444, 2023. [doi: 10.1002/adom.202301444] (IF 9.93)

· Weiren Cheng#, Zhaoting Geng#, Zhuoyu Yu, Yihan Liu, Yatao Yang, Pengzhuo Wu, Houling Ji, Xiaolun Yu, Yifan Wang, Changjing Bao, Yi Li*, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "Wafer-scale inverted gallium phosphide-on-insulator rib waveguides for nonlinear photonics", Opt. Letters, 48(14), 3781–3784, 2023. [doi: 10.1364/OL.494949] (IF 3.56)

· Houling Ji, Zhaoting Geng, Weiren Cheng, Pengzhuo Wu, Zhuoyu Yu, Yihan Liu, Xiaolun Yu, Yi Li*, and Qiancheng Zhao*, "High-power two-color Kerr frequency comb generation on the gallium phosphide-on-insulator platform at SWIR and MIR spectra", JOSA B 40(8), 1976–1985, 2023. [doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.492194] (IF 2.05)

· Zhaoting Geng, Houling Ji, Zhuoyu Yu, Weiren Cheng, Pengzhuo Wu, Yi Li*, and Qiancheng Zhao*, “Dispersion-flattened Concentric Structure for Microcomb Bandwidth Broadening in GaP-OI Resonators”, JOSA B, 40(3), 673-618, 2023. [doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.477493] (IF 2.05)

· Yongxian Yan#, Tao Zhu#, Qiancheng Zhao, Rodrigo Berté*, and Y. Li*, “Launching directional hypersonic surface waves in monolithic gallium phosphide nanodisks: two holes are better than one”, Nanoscale, 2023. [doi: 10.1039/D2NR05729H] (IF 6.89)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Mark W. Harrington, Andrei Isichenko, Kaikai Liu, Ryan O. Behunin, Scott B. Papp, Peter T. Rakich, Chad W. Hoyt, Chad Fertig, and Daniel J. Blumenthal*, “Integrated Reference Cavity with Dual-mode Optical Thermometry for Frequency Correction”, Optica, 8(11), 1481-1487, 2021. [doi:10.1364/OPTICA.432194] (IF 9.78)

· Nitesh Chauhan, Andrei Isichenko, Kaikai Liu, Jiawei Wang, Qiancheng Zhao, Ryan O. Behunin, Peter T. Rakich, Andrew M. Jayich, Chad Fertig, Chad W. Hoyt, and Daniel J. Blumenthal*, “Visible light photonic integrated Brillouin laser”, Nature Communications, 12, 4685, 2021. [doi:10.1038/s41467-021-24926-8] (IF 12.12)

· Matthew Puckett#, Kaikai Liu#, Nitesh Chauhan, Qiancheng Zhao, Naijun Jin, Haotian Cheng, Jianfeng Wu, Ryan O. Behunin, Peter T. Rakich, Karl D. Nelson, Daniel J. Blumenthal*, "422 Million intrinsic quality factor planar integrated all-waveguide resonator with sub-MHz linewidth", Nature Communications, 12, 934, 2021. [doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-21205-4] (IF 12.12)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Ryan O. Behunin, Peter T. Rakich, Nitesh Chauhan, Andrei Isichenko, Jiawei Wang, Chad W. Hoyt, Chad Fertig, Mu hong Lin, and Daniel J. Blumenthal*, "Low-loss Low Thermo-Optic Coefficient Ta2O5 on crystal quartz planar optical waveguides", APL Photonics, 5(11), 116103, 2020. (Editor’s Pick) [doi: 10.1063/5.0024743] (IF 4.86)

· Qiancheng Zhao* and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Editorial for the Special Issue on Silicon Photonics Bloom", Micromachines, 11, 670, 2020. [doi: 10.3390/mi11070670] (IF 2.43)

· Mohammad Wahiduzzaman Khan#, Qiancheng Zhao, Parinaz Sadri-Moshkenani, Md Shafiqul Islam, and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Graphene-incorporated plasmo-thermomechanical infrared radiation detection", JOSA B, 37(3), 774-783, 2020. [doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.379154] (IF 2.18)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Mohammad Wahiduzzaman Khan, Shiva Farzinazar, Jaeho Lee, and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Plasmo-thermomechanical radiation detector with on-chip optical readout", Opt. Express, 26(23), 29638-29650, 2018. [doi: 10.1364/OE.26.029638] (IF 3.67)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Parinaz Sadri-Moshkenani, Mohammad Wahiduzzaman Khan, Rasul Torun and Ozdal Boyraz*, "On-Chip Bimetallic Plasmo-Thermomechanical Detectors for Mid-Infrared Radiation", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, 29(17), 1459-1462, 2017. [doi: 10.1109/LPT.2017.2728373] (IF 2.45)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Caner Guclu, Yuewang Huang, Filippo Capolino, and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Experimental Demonstration of Directive Si3N4 Optical Leaky Wave Antennas with Semiconductor Perturbations", Journal of Lightwave Technology, 34(21), 4864-4871, 2016. [doi: 10.1109/JLT.2016.2608801] (IF 4.29)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Yuewang Huang, and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Optical properties of V-groove silicon nitride trench waveguides", J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 33, 1851-1859, 2016. [doi: 10.1364/JOSAA.33.001851] (IF 1.79)

· Qiancheng Zhao, Caner Guclu, Yuewang Huang, Filippo Capolino, Regina Ragan, and Ozdal Boyraz*, "Plasmon optical trapping using silicon nitride trench waveguides", JOSA B 33(6), 1182-1189, 2016. [doi: 10.1364/JOSAB.33.001182] (IF 2.18)