The scientists from Tsinghua University have discussed the possibility of creating a joint educational program with the scientists from the International Institute “Photonics and Optical Information Technology”, the Laboratory of Femtosecond Optics and Femtotechnologies and the Laboratory of Digital and Display Holography at ITMO University. This cooperation is supported by the Russian Science Foundation and Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Moscow. The negotiations helped the universities to reach preliminary agreements on academic exchange programs.
The second part of the visit included the Taiwan professors presenting their recent achievements in the field of terahertz radiation, medical wireless devices, sensors for agriculture and wireless charging devices. They also talked about different aspects of teaching at Tsinghua University.
There are many overlapping research fields in both universities. One such field is photonics. Here the scientists can cooperate in:
- Semiconductor optics: nonlinear optical waveguides, semiconductor lasers, innovative lithography, integrated photonic devices.
- “Green” photonics: solar panels, technologies and devices based on photovoltaic elements, LEDs development.
- Quantum photonics: quantum optics, ultrafast optics, research of relativistic effects in semiconductor lasers, use of nanoscale optical structures in metrology.
- Biophotonics: bioimaging with the use of acoustic waves, development of semiconductor biodegradable electronics, fundamental research in biophotonics.
- Research in the field of protected communication in a wide wave spectrum, microwave photonics, sensors for measuring temperature and other physical parameters, new biopolymers.
Another common field of research is new electronic devices development:
- Various communication systems: wireless systems, signal processing, communication security, optical communications, and developing applications for processing biomedical devices signals. In this subfield, the scientists are also tackling different problems associated with creating the new 5G communication standard.
- Big data processing and “smart” devices: Internet of Things, social network analysis, cloud computing and machine learning.
In this field, scientists from Tsinghua University are working on such devices as wireless portable trackers to monitor one’s health. Data from such applications are transferred to the user's device via Wi-Fi. Researchers are also developing other medical applications, for example, devices that can prevent various heart diseases and analyse a person’s breathing pattern. These sensors were used in the field of Art & Science to create watches that not only tell the time but also show heart rate with a separate arrow.
Moreover, the “smart devices” projects of Tsinghua University include devices for agriculture and for traffic lights regulation. The scientists also develop algorithms that optimize video transmission on the Internet, convert low-resolution images to high-resolution ones and create social network behaviour patterns.
Tsinghua University welcomes students with a wide range of skills taught at ITMO University – from photonics and computer science to Art & Science. The university is located in a cluster of many high-tech companies, so that it has many laboratories that develop commercial products for industrial customers. Thanks to this, students can work on practice-oriented projects.
“All students have a certain program but the specific features of each training are determined by the supervisor’s recommendations. The head of your laboratory or a professor can be your supervisor. They can advise you to take more theoretical classes and another student to take more practical classes. It is important to fulfil these recommendations. In my group, for example, the students need to balance between theoretical research and practical work and they already have good theoretical training in physics”, comments Professor Yen-Chieh Huang, head of the Center for Photonics and Electronics of Tsinghua University.
Thus, the training in Taiwan is conducted in close collaboration with the research supervisor, who can give students assignments on their current project. Since usually Tsinghua University scientists have a lot of industrial clients, all students, including the Russian ones, can get an internship in a high-tech company. There are many international students at the university, over a quarter of the total student population
“International students are an opportunity for our university to establish new collaborations with partners all around the world. Very often students come to our university for short-term programs, thereby supporting the collaboration between our university and their home university”, underlined Professor Yen-Chieh Huang.
He added that students can try to join the research group at Tsinghua University, even if they do not know what exactly they would like to do. The main thing is to identify your strengths and weaknesses, and then the supervisor will try to find a suitable laboratory.
Translated by Pavel Vorobyev
