On December 24, 2024, the Science and Technology Daily, in collaboration with other distinguished academicians, recognized two pioneering achievements from USTC as “China’s Top 10 Science and Technology News of 2024.” These milestones further solidify USTC's preeminent position in advanced scientific research.

In May 2024, the team led by Academician PAN Jianwei successfully achieved the world's inaugural fractional quantum anomalous Hall state for photons, utilizing a proprietary Plasmonium-based superconducting optical resonator array. This significant advancement paves the way for novel avenues in quantum simulation and quantum computing research.

First Realization of the Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall State of Photons(Image from USTC)

In February 2024, Professor YANG Ruizhi contributed to the discovery of a novel structure at the LHAASO cosmic ray observatory - a giant ultra-high-energy gamma-ray bubble, located in the Cygnus star-forming region. This discovery enabled the identification of the first-ever super cosmic ray source, with particles reaching energies surpassing 200 EeV. These particlesmay potentially be linked to the Cygnus OB2 stellar cluster.

The research on the "LHAASO" confirming the first super cosmic ray source was published as a cover article in Science Bulletin(Image from Science Bulletin)

(Written By YANG Sujie, edited by ZHAO Zheqian, USTC News Center)