The diamond has been well known as the gem stones in jewellery market, and the same material with various atomic defects, i.e., fluorescent impurities in diamond lattice, shows unique quantum behaviors even at ambient conditions. A diamond, not just a best friend of ladies, but also the best friend of scientists. Due to their unique quantum properties, these atomic defects has been demonstrated to achieve nanometric measurement of various physical quantities such as electromagnetic fields, temperature and etc. with unprecedented precision. Here, I will firstly review the development of diamond-based science and technology, and discuss its potential applications in diverse fields. Specifically, I will introduce the on-going research activities in my group, mainly including the high figure-of-merit diamond materials synthesis, advanced quantum diamond microscope development and diamond quantum sensing in single living cells. In addition, I will also share my journey in exploring beyond academics, e.g., we apply quantum diamond microscope for authenticity identification in local jewellery industry.
Dr. Zhiqin Chu received his PhD degree in Physics from The Chinese University of Hong Kong in July 2012. Dr. Chu carried out his postdoctoral training (2014/04-2016/09) at The University of Stuttgart (Germany), and then worked as a Research Assistant Professor (2016/10-2018/10) in Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Since November 2018, Dr. Chu has been an Assistant Professor in Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (Joint Appointment with School of Biomedical Sciences), and established the Precision Biosensing & Biophysics (PBB) Laboratory at The University of Hong Kong. Dr. Chu’s current research interests include Quantum sensing, Biophysics, Nanophotonics and Materials-Biology interface. Dr. Chu is the co-founder of a start-up company commercializing the quantum demonstration kit for promoting education of quantum technologies.
Clean water and clean air are vital for public health. This project focuses on developing high-efficiency and environmentally sustainable filters for removing harmful air/water pollutants. The team has developed novel architectures and functionalities for the filters to achieve high permeance, high removal efficiency, and excellent reusability.
