Rate My Professor Zhendong Zhang

Zhendong Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, at the University of Hong Kong, where he joined in 2025. Born in Wuhan, he obtained his Bachelor of Science in Physics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (2013-2017). He then pursued his Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Chicago (2017-2022) under Prof. Cheng Chin, completing a thesis titled “Coherent dynamics and reactions in atomic and molecular Bose-Einstein condensates,” which earned him the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the International Organization of Chinese Physicists and Astronomers (OCPA) in 2023. Following his doctoral studies, Zhang served as a Bloch Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University (2022-2025) in Prof. Benjamin Lev’s group, constructing an experimental platform for dysprosium quantum gases inside a high-finesse multimode optical cavity to study quantum many-body phase transitions. Earlier, during his undergraduate studies, he worked as a research assistant in groups at Huazhong University of Science and Technology and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.

Zhang’s research specializes in experimental atomic, molecular, and optical physics, focusing on the preparation, manipulation, and detection of ultracold neutral atoms, molecules, and ions using laser light, external electric and magnetic fields, and high-finesse multimode optical cavities. His investigations explore quantum many-body physics, ultracold chemical reactions, and novel quantum dynamics in periodically driven atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. Achievements include the first observation of many-body chemical reaction dynamics in cesium Bose-Einstein condensates and the realization of the transition from an atomic to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate. Key publications include “Many-body chemical reactions in a quantum degenerate gas” (Nature Physics, 2023), “Domain-wall dynamics in Bose-Einstein condensates with synthetic gauge fields” (Nature, 2022), “Transition from an atomic to a molecular Bose-Einstein condensate” (Nature, 2021), “Pattern formation in a driven Bose-Einstein condensate” (Nature Physics, 2020), and “Quantum simulation of Unruh radiation” (Nature Physics, 2019). Additional honors include the Quantum Creators Prize (2021) and Yodh Prize (2020) from the University of Chicago, as well as the Bloch Fellowship in Quantum Science and Engineering.