In this inaugural article of our new interview series, we are proud to feature Professor Yidong Huang, a pioneer in optoelectronics. This series, initiated by Editor-in-Chief Lan Yang, helps promote and share the stories and achievements of women in optics and photonics, offering readers insight into their scientific journeys, leadership, and contributions to the field. The interview series will be presented with a list of questions about their research and their career. The responses are compiled and published in this interview article format for the community to read their insights and learn about their remarkable careers. Through these conversations, we hope to inspire future generations and foster a stronger, more inclusive scientific community.

Yidong Huang is a Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering and Vice Chairman of the Academic Committee at Tsinghua University. She is also an international member of the US National Academy of Engineering. She has made groundbreaking contributions to optoelectronics, earning numerous awards and honors. Beyond academia, she has founded several startups, translating her research into real-world applications and advancing technology development through innovation and entrepreneurship.

In this interview, Professor Huang offers her perspective on several key topics, including the origins of her interest in optoelectronics, challenges she has faced and overcome, and the proudest achievements of her career. She also shares her advice for young researchers, insights on the future of the field, and her approach to balancing work with personal interests and family life. Additionally, Professor Huang reflects on her experience bridging academia and industry, discussing how to successfully commercialize research technologies. Her story showcases the resilience, creativity, and leadership that characterize outstanding scientists, and we believe it will inspire readers to pursue their own goals.

Professor Yidong Huang, Tsinghua University, China.

Photonics Research(PR): When and how did you become interested in the area of optoelectronics?

Yidong Huang: I was admitted to the Department of Electronic Engineering (EE Dept.), Tsinghua University in 1983. At that time, the EE Dept. had 7 majors: communication, image processing, radar, microwave, electric vacuum, laser, and semiconductor. Although I did not know what a laser was at that time, the light gave me the impression that it was colorful and fantastical, so I chose to become a laser professional. Since then, I have embarked on my 40-year journey in the field of optoelectronics. Until now, my initial feeling for the colorful and fantastic field has not changed. There are so many unknowns and possibilities in this field that really attract me.

PR: What are some of the challenges you faced when you first started, and/or along the way, and how did you overcome them?

Huang: I graduated with a Ph.D. in 1994 and worked for NEC Corporation in Japan for 9 years, where there were very good research and development conditions. I worked with the team on the distributed feedback (DFB) lasers for optical communication and won the NEC Research Merit Award twice.

The real challenge came when I returned to Tsinghua University in 2003. At that time, there were not optimal research conditions, including space, equipment, and funding. Meanwhile, I also faced the change from industry to academia. I was familiar with the DFB research at NEC, which was already a mature product, and I needed to choose a new direction suitable for scientific research in universities. After careful investigation and consideration, I chose nano-optoelectronics, an emerging field full of innovation space, and took photonic crystals and surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) as two entry points by applying for National Natural Science Foundation of China projects and seeking corporate donations to establish research facilities. I also focused on cultivating students to establish research teams. After 20 years of hard work, from scratch, a nano-optoelectronics laboratory (http://nano-oelab.ee.tsinghua.edu.cn/) with 7 faculty members and 3 engineers was established. We have successfully developed a variety of new optoelectronic devices with nano-structures, founded three startups to transform our achievements, and built a cross-material system foundry platform for nano-structure, serving 560 users. Thinking back to the challenges of 20 years ago, as long as you set your goals and persevere, you can always achieve them.

PR: Among your numerous achievements, which one are you most proud of?

Huang: My most important achievements are real-time ultra-spectral imaging and a free electron light source with thresholdless Cherenkov radiation, stemming from the research on photonic crystals and surface plasmon polaritons that began 20 years ago.

Real-time ultra-spectral imaging started a new era in the field of spectroscopy, where reconfigurable photonic crystal metasurfaces enable millions of micro-spectrometers to operate as spectral pixels simultaneously. Thresholdless Cherenkov radiation in multilayer hyperbolic metamaterials created a new concept of the “free electron radiation chip,” which makes it possible for free electron radiation to get rid of large accelerators and move towards broad application scenarios.

Prof. Huang and students with their setup for real-time ultra-spectral imaging.

PR: What do you enjoy most about your current work?

Huang: I am essentially a professor, and what I enjoy most is being able to work on student cultivation. I have invested a lot of energy in teaching and talent training, and am one of the main founders of the electronic information curriculum system of Tsinghua University. I am responsible for the classroom teaching of courses on solid-state physics and quantum electronics, and compiling textbooks of solid-state physics. Working with young students and researchers is what I enjoy most.

Prof. Huang teaching a solid-state physics course.

PR: What would be your advice to young researchers looking to get into this field?

Huang: Setting goals is important because clear goals determine the process. For example, in the high jump event for track-and-field, the height of the bar determines the position of the jump. If the goal is set at two meters, you will choose the back jump. If the goal is set at five meters, you will choose the pole vault. You can never clear over five meters with a back jump. Maybe your pole vault was not successful and you only cleared three meters. But you would not have reached that height with the back jump. The goal determines the posture, and the posture determines the maximum height you can go over. Set a high goal, and it will motivate you to choose a course of action that will lead to greatness.

PR: Where do you see the field going?

Huang: Optical communication has seen great success over the past few decades. In the process of moving from an information society to an intelligent society, information acquisition becomes more and more important. The acquisition and identification of optical information is the main method for humans to perceive the environment, and it is also the main means for contemporary intelligent devices to detect application scenarios and condition changes. Photoelectric sensing can detect sound, light, heat, electricity, mechanics, chemistry, biology, location, and other information, and is an indispensable, important technology in many fields of the future intelligent society. At present, chip-integrated photoelectric sensing technology is still in the stage of product development, and the “sense” and “knowledge” integrated photoelectric intelligent perception combined with light computing is still in the embryonic stage. I believe that the development and industrialization of photoelectric intelligent sensing devices will be one of the important power points in the field of optoelectronics in the future.

PR: What are your hobbies outside your work? How did you become interested in these hobbies?

Huang: Besides reading, my current hobby is running. Actually, I wasn’t very good at long-distance running when I was younger. I’ve been running since I was 50. Currently, I run 5–10 kilometers at a time and try to keep running 60–80 kilometers a month. The reason why I started running was that I felt my strength and energy were declining as I got older and I wanted to improve my physical condition through exercise. Running is the simplest exercise that is not limited by objective conditions. As long as you pack running shoes in your suitcase, you can find opportunities to run even when you are on a business trip. Running has really improved my fitness and energy tremendously.

PR: How do you maintain work–life balance?

Huang: Life is as important as work. Work is what makes life more meaningful, so you can’t let work bring bad influence to your life. The time in life is limited, and balancing work and life is really not an easy task, especially for women, who have to take on more family affairs. I am very lucky to have a happy family. My husband and two children are fine. The trick for me is to do things more efficiently and save time to do more things. In addition, you may have to selectively let go of some things to free up time for more important things. Also, be sure not to stay up late, to ensure a good sleep, so that your mood is comfortable, leading to quick thinking and more efficient work.

PR: Besides your outstanding scientific achievements, you are famous for your great success in technology transfer from academia to industry. Could you share your experience on how to commercialize your technologies?

Huang: At present, the three companies I co-founded are developing well with more than 250 employees and a total valuation of more than 3 billion RMB. The key to establishing a startup company for the transformation of scientific research results is to find a competent CEO. They should not only understand technology, but also understand management; not only be able to form a competent team of unity and cooperation, but also know how to build an industrial ecology so that the company can move forward in the tide of competition. Currently, the CEOs of my three companies are all PhD graduates from my lab, and they all have the qualities I mentioned above. It’s also important to trust and empower the CEO, once you hire the right person, believing that they know how to start a business better than the professors.

Photonics Research sincerely thanks Prof. Yidong Huang for participating in this interview format and sharing personal and professional insights from her remarkable career.