Zhiliang Yuan

Zhiliang Yuan is Chief Scientist at the Beijing Academy of Quantum Information Sciences (BAQIS), following doctoral and postdoctoral training at the Institute of Semiconductors, CAS (1993–1997) and the University of Oxford (1997–2001), and a twenty-year research career at Toshiba Cambridge Laboratory. He is a Changjiang Chair Professor (2023), a Fellow of the Institute of Physics (2021), and an Optica Fellow (2023).

Dr Yuan is an expert in quantum communication and quantum photonics, known for defining many of the field’s performance frontiers. In QKD, he established key technological milestones: the first 100 km (2003) and 600 km (2020) fiber-based demonstrations, as well as the first Mb/s (2008) and 10Mb/s (2018) secure key rates. His innovations underpin several of today’s practical systems, including the self-differencing (2007) and UNIC single-photon detectors (2023), the directly phase-modulated source (2016) and the twin-field QKD protocol (2018). He has also led paradigm-shifting advances in quantum-dot photonics—from creating the first single-photon LED (2002) to unveiling the pure-state resonance-fluorescence model that reframes decades of textbook interpretation.

He has published over 140 peer-reviewed papers and holds more than 70 patents granted in the US, UK, and China.

Selected Publications:

(A more up-to-date list can be found in Google Scholar or Web of Science.)

1. X-J Wang, G Q Huang, M-Y Li, Y-Z Wang, L Liu, B Wu, H Q Liu, H Q Ni, Z C Niu, W J Ji, R Z Jiao, H-L Yin, Z L Yuan. "Coherence in resonance fluorescence," Nature Communications 16, 6543 (2025).

2. L Zhou, J P Lin, Y-M Xie, Y-S Lu, Y M Jing, H-L Yin, and Z L Yuan. “Experimental quantum communication overcomes the rate-loss limit without optical phase tracking,”Physical Review Letters 130, 250801 (2023).

3. L Zhou, J P Lin, Y M Jing, and Z L Yuan. “Twin-field quantum key distribution without optical frequency dissemination,” Nature Communications 14, 928 (2023).

4. Z Y Yan, T T Shi, Y B Fan, L Zhou, and Z L Yuan. “Compact InGaAs/InP single-photon detector module with ultra-narrowband interference circuits,” Advanced Devices & Instrumentation 4, 0029 (2023).

5. Z L Yuan, A Plews, R Takahashi, K Doi, W Tam, A W Sharpe, A R Dixon, E Lavelle, J F Dynes, A Murakami, M Kujiraoka, M Lucamarini, Y Tanizawa, H Sato, and A J Shields. “10 Mb/s quantum key distribution,” Journal of Lightwave Technology 36, 3427 (2018).

6. M Lucamarini, Z L Yuan, J F Dynes, and A J Shields. “Overcoming the rate-distance limit of quantum key distribution without quantum repeater,” Nature 557, 400–403 (2018).

7. Z L Yuan, B Frohlich, M Lucamarini, G L Roberts, J F Dynes, and A J Shields. “Directly phase-modulated light source,” Physical Review X 6, 031044 (2016).

8. Z L Yuan, B E Kardynal, A W Sharpe, and A J Shields. “High speed single photon detection in the near infrared,” Applied Physics Letters 91, 041114 (2007).

9. C Gobby, Z L Yuan, and A J Shields. “Quantum key distribution over 122 km of standard telecom fiber,” Applied Physics Letters 84, 3762–3764 (2004).

10. Z L Yuan, B E Kardynal, R M Stevenson, A J Shields, C J Lobo, K Cooper, N S Beattie, D A Ritchie, and M Pepper. “Electrically driven single-photon source,” Science 295, 102-105 (2002).