Physicist You Chenglong has left the United States to take up a full-time position in China after working for more than a decade in the strategically important fields of quantum sensing and precision measurement.
Previously based at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, You is regarded as a fast-rising researcher in his field.
According to Chinese media reports, he joined the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC) in Chengdu as a professor this month.
UESTC has been on the US government’s export-control Entity List since 2012 due to its cutting-edge research into defence-related technology such as radars and electronic warfare.
While his name has not yet appeared on UESTC’s publicly available faculty listings, You’s Google Scholar profile lists the Chinese university as his current affiliation.
You has been asked for comment.
He earned his PhD in physics from LSU in 2019, studying how light can be used to push measurements to their absolute limits, work that underpins technology ranging from ultra-precise navigation sensors to gravitational-wave detection.
He then stayed on as a postdoctoral researcher in the university’s quantum photonics lab, becoming an assistant research professor in 2023.
You’s research also includes collaboration with major government research facilities, including the US National Institute of Standards and Technology, conducting experiments that used multiple light particles to measure extremely small changes more accurately than conventional techniques allow.
His research has received international recognition, including the Emil Wolf Outstanding Student Paper Competition, an award from the global optics society Optica, as well as a research fellowship from Japan’s National Institute of Information and Communications Technology.
He also holds several patents in China and the US and serves on the technical committee of the leading international optics conference CLEO.
You has joined UESTC’s Quantum Physics and Engineering Laboratory, which was established in 2023 to support national efforts to develop high-density, high-precision quantum photonic devices and advance research in quantum measurement, according to Chinese media reports.
Founded in 1956, UESTC is one of China’s leading engineering universities. It is known for research in electronics, information technology and communications, and has played a key role in training specialists for China’s defence and tech industries.
US authorities have cited the university’s work in advanced electronics and communications as one reason for placing it on the Commerce Department’s Entity List, which restricts the exports of certain American technologies. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
