Tongcang Li has been chosen to obtain the 2025 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award, which acknowledges Purdue University college for latest excellent contributions in pure and utilized science and engineering. (Purdue University photograph/John Underwood)
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Tongcang Li has been chosen to obtain the 2025 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award. The award acknowledges Purdue University college for latest excellent contributions in pure and utilized science and engineering.
Li, a professor within the Department of Physics and Astronomy within the College of Science and within the Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a number one professional in quantum sensing, levitated optomechanics and nonequilibrium thermodynamics. He is understood for groundbreaking experiments in quantum info science and expertise, together with the event of a brand new qubit platform based mostly on nuclear spins in two-dimensional supplies, and advances in sensible quantum sensing applied sciences. Li holds one issued patent and has two further patent-pending applied sciences disclosed to the Purdue Innovates Office of Technology Commercialization, has ongoing collaborations with Toyota Motor Corp. and a semiconductor firm, and he’s director of the Center for Quantum Technologies, a National Science Foundation Industry-University Cooperative Research Center.
Li has beforehand been distinguished with a number of awards, together with the NSF CAREER Award, the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Experimental Physics Investigators Award, and the Purdue College of Science Research Award, and he has been named a Purdue University Faculty Scholar. He is a member of the Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute.
“I am honored to receive the Bement Award and deeply grateful for the support and recognition from my colleagues. I would also like to thank my students and postdocs for their hard work and dedication,” Li stated. “I feel fortunate to work at the quantum frontier, exploring the extraordinary properties of material defects and developing sensing technologies that enable applications we are only beginning to imagine.”
In research printed in 2025 in Nature, Li achieved the primary detection and management of single nuclear spins in two-dimensional supplies, opening avenues for utilizing nuclear spins in 2D supplies for quantum info science and expertise. His staff embedded the uncommon carbon-13 isotope in ultrathin hexagonal boron nitride, then used magnetic resonance microscopy to acquire atomic-level information concerning the construction of the fabric they created. This quantum platform has a number of fascinating properties, akin to lengthy coherence time at room temperature, qubit-qubit interactions which are simply manipulated and fabrication in a two-dimensional strong state.
Li’s work on spin qubits additionally affords a brand new pathway to boost quantum sensing utilizing 2D spin defects with plasmonics. Li’s staff achieved record-high contrast for optically detected magnetic resonance and enhanced photoluminescence of boron vacancies in boron nitride utilizing a gold-film microwave waveguide. The technique he developed has since been extensively adopted for quantum sensing with boron nitride spin defects.
His work within the area of optomechanics has earned him widespread recognition. Optics & Photonics News named his research on on-chip optical levitation with a metalens among the many prime 30 breakthroughs in optics in 2022. Physics journal, a publication of the American Physical Society, named his 2018 work growing the quickest rotating and optically levitated nanoparticle one among its prime 10 Highlights of the Year throughout all fields of physics in that 12 months.
Li’s research affords vital real-world potential, which he’s growing in trade collaborations. His work with Toyota focuses on quantum sensing for battery and catalysis functions. In addition, a number one semiconductor firm is working with Li’s group to develop nanoparticle sensors.
This partnership additionally aligns with Purdue Computes, an initiative that encompasses the college’s research and packages in bodily AI, computing, semiconductors and quantum science.
The Bement Award acknowledges Purdue college whose research has made a big impression on science and engineering. Established in honor of Arden L. Bement Jr., a distinguished professor and former director of the National Science Foundation, the award highlights innovative and influential contributions to international scientific developments.
Li will communicate on the Excellence in Research Award Lectures occasion from September 11:30 a.m. May 6 within the East and West Faculty lounges within the Purdue Memorial Union. Registration is requested here.
About Purdue University
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