Qingdao Evening News 2024-06-25 page
Portrait of Xue Qikun. Xinhua News Agency
Xue Qikun communicates with students from the research team at Tsinghua University on October 17, 2017. Xinhua News Agency
The quantum anomalous Hall effect was observed for the first time, and the high-temperature superconductivity at the heterojunction interface was discovered for the first time...... He used one heavyweight scientific discovery after another to help the mainland's quantum scientific research rank among the world's first echelon. On June 24, Xue Qikun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and professor of Tsinghua University, stood on the podium of the 2023 National Highest Science and Technology Award. Forging ahead all the way, he has always regarded serving the country as the highest pursuit. "We must contribute to the strength of the country!" After the age of sixties, his simple words are still loud.
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Xue Qikun, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, professor of Tsinghua University, president of Southern University of Science and Technology, is a well-known physicist who has long been engaged in the preparation, characterization and physical properties of ultra-thin film materials. At the age of 61, he won the highest national science and technology award, becoming the youngest winner of the highest national science and technology award.
Seize the opportunity
"Striving for leading original results"
Tsinghua University, the laboratory of Xue Qikun's team is like a science fiction world, with complex pipelines connecting experimental instruments to form a set of ultra-high vacuum interconnection system. This platform for the precision preparation and control of quantum materials is an "experimental weapon" for exploring the quantum world.
Quantum technology is the frontier of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. The quantum anomalous Hall effect, considered to be the last important member of the quantum Hall effect family, is an important window to explore more quantum mysteries and promote the development of a new generation of low-energy electronic devices.
The observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect in experiments is the goal of scientists from many countries. However, the observation of the quantum anomalous Hall effect is extremely difficult, and there has been no substantial experimental progress in the international physics community for more than 20 years since it was theoretically predicted in 1988.
"To do basic research, we must grasp the mainstream development direction of the world's scientific frontiers. When major scientific research opportunities arise, we must seize the opportunity and strive for leading original achievements to help the country's scientific and technological level continue to improve. For Xue, the quantum anomalous Hall effect is such a major scientific opportunity.
"Whoever takes the lead in making a breakthrough will have the first opportunity in subsequent research and application!" Xue Qikun led the team to race against time, and after 4 years, more than 1,000 samples were prepared and measured, and a series of scientific problems were solved. Finally, at the end of 2012, they observed the quantum anomalous Hall effect in experiments.
For the first time in the world! After the results were published in the international academic journal Science, Nobel laureate Yang Zhenning said: "This is the first time that a Nobel Prize-level physics paper has been published in a Chinese laboratory!" ”
Another major scientific opportunity that Xue and his team seized was high-temperature superconductivity. Superconductivity is a typical macroscopic quantum phenomenon that has attracted much attention due to its huge application potential. The search for more high-temperature superconducting materials is the goal of the scientific community.
After years of hard work, in 2012, Xue Qikun and his team discovered interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity for the first time, which is the superconductor with the highest superconducting transition temperature at atmospheric pressure since the discovery of copper oxide high-temperature superconductor in 1986, and also opened up a new way to explore the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity.
Science serves the country
"We want to contribute to the strength of the country"
"We have caught up with the golden age of scientific research. Now, the country has created such good conditions for us in scientific research, and we should cherish it and strive for more breakthroughs from '0 to 1'. "Xue Qikun spends most of his time in the office or laboratory.
Since 1992, he has studied and worked in Japan and the United States. In the 8 years abroad, he never forgot his motherland. Personally feeling the gap between the motherland and the developed countries at that time, he secretly determined, "I want to make some contribution to the strength of the country!" ”
In order to improve the observation effect of scanning tunneling microscope, he has made more than 1,000 scanning probe tips. In order to catch up with the progress of the experiment, he once rushed directly to the laboratory when he returned from a business trip late at night.
After the discovery of the quantum anomalous Hall effect and the high-temperature superconductivity of the heterojunction interface, honors and awards followed. Xue Qikun smiled faintly: "The achievements have benefited from the continuous growth of the mainland's scientific and technological strength and the long-term and profound accumulation of basic research. The honor belongs to every researcher in the team, and it belongs to the country. ”
Today, Xue Qikun is still fighting on the front line of scientific research, leading the team to solve cutting-edge scientific problems such as the mechanism of high-temperature superconductivity, the application of high-temperature quantum anomalous Hall effect and topological quantum states of matter, and the realization of topological quantum computing.
"Swimming in the ocean of world science, I have always been a small boat sailing out of the Yimeng Mountains." The pronunciation of the other country has not changed, and the original intention is still the same.
Scholarship for post-learning
"Dare to challenge major scientific problems"
"When you talk about scientific research, your eyes shine." In the eyes of his colleagues, Xue Qikun is "very smart" and "very good at physical intuition". But he often encouraged young people that if they want to achieve success in scientific research, they need to rely on 1% talent and 99% hard work.
While leading the team to carry out scientific research, Xue Qikun also attaches great importance to talent training. When the scientific experiment encountered a bottleneck, he enthusiastically encouraged the team and worked with the team to find a solution; In various academic exchanges, he always keenly captures valuable research directions and encourages young people to explore boldly.
"We must have academic self-confidence" and "dare to challenge major scientific problems". His passion for scientific research is deeply infectious to those around him and inspires young talents.
Today, one of Xue Qikun's team members and students has been elected as an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and more than 30 people have been selected for the national talent plan.
"In the field of quantum basic research, China has reached the world-class level in terms of research level and talent quality." Looking to the future, Xue Qikun is full of confidence: "China will definitely make an important contribution to the new round of global information technology revolution. ”
▶▶▶ Close-up of the characters
The "skin" of the people in the Yimeng Mountains made me go all the way
Xue Qikun: On the road to becoming a talent, diligence ranks ahead of intelligence
On June 13, Xue Qikun was in his office at Tsinghua University. Xinhua News Agency
At the age of 41, he became an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; At the age of 49, he discovered interface-enhanced high-temperature superconductivity; At the age of 50, he discovered the quantum anomalous Hall effect; At the age of 52, he was awarded the title of "Scientific and Technological Innovation Figure" in 2016; At the age of 53, he won the first "Future Science Prize"; At the age of 60, he became the first Chinese physicist to win the Barkley Prize......
Under the remarkable achievements, Xue Qikun's scientific research path is smooth at a glance, but full of setbacks on a closer look. When he was admitted to graduate school, he was finally admitted to the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences after "three wars"; It took him 7 years to study for his PhD.
In 1992, as a student jointly trained by China and Japan, Xue Qikun went to study at the Institute of Metal Research of Tohoku University in Japan. The language barrier, the difficulty of learning, the intensity of the work is extremely high, and there is no hope of making progress in the research, but Xue Qikun persevered. With a solid foundation and extraordinary perseverance, he has achieved the largest scientific research achievement in the 30-year history of the Sakurai Lifu Laboratory.
Xue Qikun said that the people in the Yimeng Mountains are "solid", and the difficult environment has created his strong character and positive attitude towards life, so that he can go all the way without being defeated by difficulties. With this spirit of "being solid", not afraid of difficulties, and not admitting defeat, he led the research team to continue to move forward and meet new difficulties and challenges.
"I'm a very hard-working person, and at the best of my creativity, I've never taken a holiday, I work fifteen or sixteen hours a day, no weekends, no holidays." Xue Qikun believes that on the road to becoming a talent, diligence ranks ahead of intelligence.
Xue Qikun has a nickname, called "7-11 Academician", that is, he entered the laboratory at 7 o'clock in the morning and worked until 11 o'clock in the evening, which was a habit he developed when he was studying in Japan. He has adhered to this routine for 20 years, working more than 330 days a year. "Professor Xue is the hardest working person I have ever met, not one of them." Duan Wenhui, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and director of the Department of Physics of Tsinghua University, said with a smile.
"Most of the scientists I know are very hardworking, and for most of them, diligence is a basic requirement to be a good person." Xue Qikun said, "It can be said that my achievements today are three points of talent and seven points of hard work. ”
According to Xinhua News Agency, "Guangming Daily" and other collations