Pan Jianwei, a renowned Chinese quantum physicist, wins the 2019 R. W. Wood Prize. [Photo/WeChat account: zjpark]

Pan Jianwei, a renowned Chinese quantum physicist and professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) has won the 2019 R. W. Wood Prize presented by the Optical Society of America (OSA), the university announced on March 22.

It is the first time that a Chinese scientist has won the prize with a local research project since the award was established in 1975.

According to the prize announcement, Pan has been awarded for his pioneering experimental research at the frontier of quantum foundations and optical implementations of quantum information, including quantum nonlocality, quantum key distribution, quantum teleportation, and optical quantum computing.

The R. W. Wood Prize was established to honor the many contributions that American physicist and inventor Robert Williams Wood made to optics, which recognizes outstanding discoveries, scientific or technical achievements, or inventions in the field. Former winners include Nobel Prize in Physics laureates such as Carl E. Wieman and Gérard Mourou.

Pan and his team play an important role in the USTC Institute of Advanced Technology in the Hefei National High-tech Industry Development Zone. They have attracted a group of projects related to the research of quantum technology in the zone.