Postdoc YU Shang: "Think Big and Dare to Take Action" in the Quantum World

YU Shang was not sitting at his laptop when the winners of the 2022 Marie Sk?odowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) were announced.

This is his third consecutive application for MSCA. When filing the first application, he was just starting his career as a postdoctoral fellow at Zhejiang Lab (ZJ Lab), and had in mind to toss a stone to find out what was ahead. Next, he made adequate preparations for his second application, but he was beaten by 0.4 points. Anyway, he plucked up the courage to try again, and luckily he saw a different beginning when he opened the e-mail.

MSCA, one of the top-three outstanding talent programs in Europe and the EU-funded highest award for individual researchers, received 7,044 applications from nearly 80 countries in 2022, 17.5% of which were eventually selected for funding. The success rate of the MSCA Fellowship Physics, which YU Shang applied for, is just 11.6%.

YU Shang is the first postdoc independently trained by ZJ Lab who is selected for MSCA. This is also the eighth year of his venture into the quantum world.

Think Big and Dare to Take Action

YU Shang is a postdoc at the Research Center for Quantum Sensing. He is independent and capable in the eyes of his co-advisor DONG Ying. "He can actively ask questions and look for solutions. There are not many young researchers like him."

YU Shang once came up with an idea for quantum computing, and DONG Ying pointed out its inadequacies. However, the very next day, YU Shang presented his calculations and derivations to his co-advisor for discussion.

"I didn't expect him to solve the problem in such a short time. It is obvious that he has a good theoretical foundation and also delivers a well-designed experimental scheme." This impressed DONG Ying deeply.

YU Shang always thinks big and dares to pursue scientific research. Before he selected a major at the undergraduate level, his teachers and friends advised him to choose from microelectronics, finance and other majors, which were popular at that time, on the grounds of better career prospects. However, YU Shang thought why he should give up his favorite major because it was "easier to get a job" in other majors.

YU Shang still remembers a lecture that drew him into the quantum world. "A teacher from the University of Science and Technology of China told us about light quantum and photonic chips, as well as how to compute with them. That's amazing." At that time, YU Shang was a junior student. Although he didn't have an in-depth understanding of light quantum, his future research field began to become clear.

Ultimately, he was admitted with distinction to the University of Science and Technology of China to pursue a PhD under the guidance of Academician GUO Guangcan. From then on, YU Shang started to engage in quantum computing.

After joining ZJ Lab, YU Shang continued his research on quantum computing, except there were not many like-minded fellows then. So, YU Shang wanted to "get out there and listen to others' ideas and observe others' technologies." He then applied to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, hoping to get involved in the research group of Fellow Ian Walmsley at Imperial College London, and to better support ZJ Lab's main research fields in intelligent computing in the future.

This application was unprecedented to ZJ Lab. However, upholding the principles of openness, innovation and inclusiveness for talent development, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs gave him "special approval".

A new environment brings new ideas to YU Shang. "The experimental research at Imperial College London enables me to find a solution to the losses that photonic chips suffer from." YU Shang said that he included this finding in his third application for MSCA. "Perhaps this additional innovation is the key to success."

YU Shang (First from Right) at Imperial College London (Photo provided by YU Shang)

Push Quantum Computing into Practice

Even if you know little about quantum, you must have heard of quantum computing. Academician GUO Guangcan said in metaphorical terms that by computational power, quantum computer vs. electronic computer is just like electronic computer vs. abacus.

"In a quantum computer, information is not encoded in binary bits that can either be 0 or 1, but probabilistically in superposition that represents both 1 and 0 simultaneously, so that the quantum computer can encode more information and realize massively parallel quantum computing," YU Shang said. However, at present, the advantages of quantum computing are only reflected in solving mathematical problems, such as the factorization of large numbers.

Making use of quantum computing in specific scenarios is the goal YU Shang is working towards. His research at ZJ Lab and Imperial College London focuses on applying quantum computing to molecular docking, aiming to accelerate drug discovery.

"Gaussian Boson Sampling exhibits an ability to solve complex graph problems, and the combination of two molecules can be translated into a problem in graph theory in mathematics," YU Shang explained. To reach the practical application potential of "Gaussian Boson Sampling" or other quantum computing circuits and realize all the benefits of quantum enhancement, the first thing we need is large-scale universal programmable quantum hardware.

"We developed a universal, programmable and software-scalable 'Gaussian Boson Sampling' photonic quantum processor. This universal and programmable architecture enables the most advanced and practical 'Gaussian Boson Sampling' circuits." Currently, YU Shang has built a multi-functional quantum-powered drug discovery platform based on this processor, which can achieve molecular docking and RNA folding prediction.

The successful development of quantum processors is just the first step. Next, YU Shang also needs to scale up experimental facilities and encode more complex molecules, to truly embody the advantages of quantum computing. Meanwhile, an error correction function is implemented in quantum computers, thus improving the accuracy of computational results.

YU Shang has also benefited hugely from his postdoctoral work at ZJ Lab, namely, he published many papers in top physics journals, got approved for the general program supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation and the International Postdoctoral Exchange Fellowship Program organized by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security of China, and was selected for MSCA. If asked what is the secret of success, he thinks he's far away from success, and there is no secret of success, but he has to thank his teachers and friends for their help as always and thank himself for being optimistic: "Identify the direction and move forward firmly."

Next, YU Shang will continue his research on quantum computing, and ZJ Lab also allows more outstanding postdocs to "go global". According to the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, ZJ Lab will fund up to 20 outstanding postdocs every year to conduct cooperative research in top overseas universities and research institutes for six months to one year, so as to cultivate high-level innovative talents in an international environment.