Dr Xu Fang 

Dr. Xu Fang is a Lecturer in the School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in Materials Science and Engineering in 2004 from Tsinghua University (the 1st university in China and the 17th in the world according to the QS World University Rankings 2022). He then obtained his Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics in 2009 from the Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (the national research institution of China, the 1st in the world in Nature Index 2020). Before joining the University of Southampton in 2012, he held a 3-year fellowship in RIKEN (the largest and most comprehensive national research institute in Japan). During this time, he became fluent in Japanese.

He is interested in exploring the behaviours of photons and electrons at the nanoscale, and applying the knowledge to developing novel devices such as high-sensitivity sensors and integrated chips for optical computing. Highlights of recent works include the first reports on metamaterial thin-film logic gates (conducted in the university's Optoelectronics Research Centre), the integration of metalenses and microfluidic systems, and the development of beam-steering metasurfaces for lidar (see Google Scholar for the full publication list). Many of the works are conducted in collaboration with academics with a broad range of (often complementary) expertise in Southampton (including Prof. Nikolay Zheludev, Prof. Kevin MacDonald, Dr. Eric Plum, Dr. Nicolas Green, Prof. Martin Charlton, Dr. Tasmiat Rahman, Dr. Stuart Boden, Dr. Jize Yan and Prof. Kees de Groot). His team also frequently hosts exchange students from leading international institutions (e.g. MIT in the USA, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology in Japan, and Tsinghua University in China).

Current group members: James Frame, Hailong Pi (Co-supervision), Ben Rowlinson (Co-supervision), Shengqi Yin, Yuxin Du, Zihang Zheng, Siyu Chen and Jianzhi Huang.

Alumni: Aramis Subee (MIT, USA), Ella Richards (MIT, USA), Mahiro Horikawa (TUAT, Japan), Kaito Miwa (TUAT, Japan), Jiaming Liu (Tsinghua University, China), Ziwei Liu (CAS, China) & Fei He (University of Nottingham).

Teaching: ELEC2212 Electromagnetism for Communications (module leader), ELEC1204 Advanced Programming (module leader), ELEC3207 Nanoelectronic Devices, ELEC6207 Quantum Devices and Technology & ELEC6256 Nanoelectronic Devices for MSc.

Teaching award: Academic Award in 2019, from the Student Union of the University of Southampton.

Grants:

[1] Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation Award, Next-generation smart sensors based on plasmon-controlled phase transition in vanadium oxide, PI.

[2] Royal Society Research Grant for newly independent researchers, Plasmonic electrodes for electrokinetic and plasmonic hybrid sensing, PI.

[3] Royal Society International Exchanges with MIT (USA), Plasmonic whispering gallery mode sensors, PI.

[4] Royal Society International Exchanges with Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology (Japan), Nano-pixel image sensor based on plasmon-assisted phase transition, PI.