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imaged the nucleation process in solid-solid transition at the
single-particle level for the first time, using colloidal crystals.
The breakthrough showed that a square lattice does not
directly transform to the final state of a triangular lattice, but
develops a liquid nucleus first, which then transforms into
the triangular-lattice nucleus. The finding indicates a novel
two-step pathway that could widely exist in metals and
alloys. The result was published as the cover story in
Nature
Materials
and reported by international science websites,
including Physorg, ScienceDaily, (e) Science News, US News,
and EurekAlert!
SINGLE-PHOTON-CAVITY LOADING RECORD
Prof Shengwang Du (Physics) and his research group set a
world record in experimental cavity quantum electrodynamics
(CQED) by successfully demonstrating the loading of a single
photon into a single-sided Fabry-Perot cavity with an efficiency
of 87%. In previous experiments, single-photon-cavity loading
efficiencies were all below 20%. The researchers achieved this
result by shaping the single-photon temporal wave function to
match the cavity property. CQED is the area of Physics for
which French professor Serge Haroche was awarded the 2012
Nobel Prize. The approach and the results of the HKUST team
have enabled promising applications in realizing large-scale
CQED-based quantum networks. The work was published in
Physical Review Letters
, and highlighted in
APS Physics
.
IN THE PIPELINE
Urban water supply systems are vital to billions of people
globally, but many are aging, inefficient, or both.
A research team led by Prof Mohamed S Ghidaoui (Civil
and Environmental Engineering) was awarded $33.225
million under the government’s Theme-based Research
Scheme to develop a new diagnostic paradigm for water
supply network monitoring and fault detection. The Smart
Urban Water Supply Systems project will be conducted in
close collaboration with the Hong Kong Water Supplies
Department, support the government’s “Water Intelligent
Network” vision, and crucially contribute to the sustainable
development of Hong Kong through water conservation via
locally developed innovation and technology.
MITIGATING DEBRIS FLOWS
Prof Charles Ng (Civil and Environmental Engineering) and
his team were awarded $33.225 million under the Theme-
based Research Scheme for their project Understanding
Debris Flow Mechanisms and Mitigating Risks for a
Sustainable Hong Kong. The scientific advancements and
technologies expected to result from this project will improve
fundamental understanding of debris flow dynamics via
world-leading physical model tests and novel multi-scale and
multi-physics coupled theoretical model. The project should
