Honorary Fellows: Professor Xue Qikun

Professor Xue Qikun creatively developed ultra-high-vacuum interconnected systems for molecular-beam epitaxy, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, which have become internationally accepted powerful experimental techniques for atomic-scale controlled preparation and characterisation of quantum materials.

On this basis, he led his team to make two original scientific discoveries in the quantum anomalous Hall effect and interfacial high-temperature superconductivity. The experimental discovery of the quantum anomalous Hall effect in topological insulators is a milestone breakthrough in the field of condensed matter physics, and the discovery of high-temperature superconductivity at heterojunction interfaces opens a new research direction of high-temperature superconductivity, both of which have great academic influence in the world.

Professor Xue won the 2018 National Natural Science First Prize as the first ‘completed’ person, the highest international prize in condensed matter physics - the Oliver Buckley Prize (2024), and was the first Chinese scientist to win the Fritz London Memorial Prize (2020). In June 2024, he was granted China’s prestigious National Highest Science and Technology Award (2023) for his outstanding contribution to scientific and technological innovation.

Professor Xue and his research team continue to set new achievements in the related research of the quantum anomalous Hall effect and high-temperature superconductivity, and continue to lead international academic progress in these two directions.

As Chair of the IOP China Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) since 2019, Professor Xue has brought together 21 leading Chinese scientists to foster research collaboration and strategic dialogue between the UK and China. His efforts have actively supported IOP Publishing’s China strategy, facilitating stronger engagement between Chinese institutions and global scientific communities.