Biography:

Dr. Yao earned his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) in 2006 and 2012, respectively. From 2013 to 2016, he worked at the University of Heidelberg, initially as a Humboldt Fellow and later as a researcher. In 2017, Dr. Yao joined the Hefei National Research Center for Physical Sciences at the Microscale and the School of Physical Sciences at USTC. He has been devoted to the quantum control of light and ultracold atoms, publishing many scientific papers in influential journals including Science, Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Physics, and PRL. His research achievements have been recognized as part of the “Top 10 Scientific and Technological Progress News in China” and the “Top 10 Scientific Advances in China.”

Research Interest:

1) Quantum simulation of strongly correlated many-body systems using ultracold fermionic atoms.
2) Creation of magnetic dipolar quantum gases, enabling the realization of exotic quantum matter such as quantum droplets and supersolids.

What You Can Expect in the Project:

In this project, students are expected to learn the physics of ultracold atoms — the coldest matter in our universe — and to understand how to combine state-of-the-art techniques in laser optics, electronics, mechanical controls, machine learning, and etc., to manipulate these ultracold atoms.

Desired skill and background:

Strong motivation and interests in experimental quantum physics.