Rate My Professor Xuedong Hu

Xuedong Hu is Professor and Chair of the Department of Physics at the University at Buffalo, College of Arts and Sciences. He received his BS degree from Beijing University in 1989 and PhD from the University of Michigan in 1996. After postdoctoral research at the University of Maryland from 1998 to 2002, he joined the University at Buffalo as Assistant Professor in August 2002, advancing to full Professor. He previously served as Director of Graduate Studies, where he led reforms to the PhD admissions process and modernized program requirements to improve recruitment, enrollment, retention, and rewards for high-performing students.

Hu's research focuses on solid state theory, particularly quantum coherence, dynamics, and information processing in semiconductor and superconductor nanostructures. His work spans condensed matter physics and quantum optics, beginning with PhD projects on quantum fluctuations and squeezed states of phonons in solids, and coherent control of phonon emission in quantum wells through microwave driving. Since his postdoctoral period, efforts have emphasized quantum information processing in semiconductor nanostructures, including quantum entanglement of electron spins, decoherence of electron and nuclear spin states, spin transfer between quantum dots, effective mass theory for donors in silicon, characterization of multi-electron states in silicon quantum dots, coupling of dot-donor complexes in SiMOSFETs, and electron trapping and manipulation with surface acoustic waves. He has received the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Faculty Service (2023-24) for sustained superior service contributions and the UB Exceptional Scholar: Sustained Achievement Award. Key publications include "Charge fluctuation induced dephasing of exchange coupled spin qubits" (Physical Review Letters 96, 100501, 2006), "Exchange in silicon based quantum computer architecture" (Physical Review Letters 88, 027903, 2002), "Doppler effect induced spin relaxation boom" (Scientific Reports 6, 23169, 2016), "Resonant Adiabatic Passage with Three Qubits" (Physical Review A 87, 022332, 2013), and "Highly tunable ultrafast control of a spin qubit" (Nature Nanotechnology, 2023). His pioneering contributions as the first UB faculty in quantum computing have profoundly impacted the field.