Hekang Li
hkli@zju.edu.cn
Education
2015-2019 Ph.D. in Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2012-2015 Master's Degree in Materials Engineering, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
2008-2012 Bachelor's Degree in Materials Science and Engineering, Yanshan University
Experience
2025-Present Scientist, Hefei National Laboratory
2022-Present Research Associate, ZJU-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center
2019-2022 Postdoctoral Researcher, Zhejiang University
Overview of Academic Research
Dr. Hekang Li’s research focuses on systematic advances in superconducting quantum processors, addressing core challenges in quantum chip process R&D, large-scale integration, and performance optimization.
Major achievements include:
* Fabrication of a planar 20-qubit fully connected superconducting quantum chip, achieving 20-qubit global entanglement, which broke the world record for the number of entangled qubits in solid-state quantum devices at the time. The average qubit energy relaxation time was 33.9 μs, with a maximum of 51 μs. The related results were published in Science in 2019.
*Fabrication of a planar 32-qubit fully connected superconducting quantum chip, achieving Stark multi-body localisation, with a maximum bit energy relaxation time of 60 μs. The related results were published in Physical Review Letters in 2022.
*Using flip-chip packaging technology, successful fabrication of a flip-chip 12-qubit chip, demonstrating five-body interactions in a superconducting quantum system for the first time. The related results were published in Physical Review Letters in 2022.
*Successfully fabricated a quantum ring coupler chip with dynamically tunable coupling strengths between the central bit and three resonant cavities, demonstrating topological states based on optical quantum properties. The related results were published in Science in 2022.
*Multiple flip-chip 36-qubit neighbour-coupled adjustable chips were successfully fabricated, with an average energy relaxation time of up to 150 μs. Based on these chips, fully digital quantum simulations of topological time crystals were achieved, among other results. The results were published in Nature in 2022.
*Successfully fabricated multiple flip-chip 121-qubit nearest-neighbour coupled adjustable chips with an average energy relaxation time of 100 μs. Based on these chips, successfully realised the preparation of Fibonacci non-Abelian topological states and weaving operations of Fibonacci anyons. The related results were published in Nature Physics in 2024.
Since 2019, 38 papers have been published based on the superconducting quantum chips prepared by Dr. Hekang Li, including 3 in Nature and Science, 14 in their sub-journals, and 11 in Physical Review Letters.
Core research directions:
1. Design, simulation, and performance optimisation of multi-qubit superconducting quantum chips;
2. Development of micro/nanofabrication processes for superconducting quantum chips;
3. High-density integration and packaging of superconducting quantum chips.
Major Honors and Awards
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Representative Publications
1.Zhu, Z. et al. Observation of minimal and maximal speed limits for few and many-body states. Nat Commun 16, 1255 (2025).
2.Dong, H. et al. Measuring the Spectral Form Factor in Many-Body Chaotic and Localized Phases of Quantum Processors. Phys. Rev. Lett. 134, 010402 (2025).
3.Zhang, P. et al. Emergence of steady quantum transport in a superconducting processor. Nat Commun 15, 10115 (2024).
4.Xu, S. et al. Non-Abelian braiding of Fibonacci anyons with a superconducting processor. Nat. Phys. 20, 1469–1475 (2024).
5.Xiang, L. et al. Long-lived topological time-crystalline order on a quantum processor. Nat Commun 15, 8963 (2024).
6.Xiang, L. et al. Enhanced quantum state transfer by circumventing quantum chaotic behavior. Nat Commun 15, 4918 (2024).
7.Wu, Y. et al. Testing the unified bounds of the quantum speed limit. Phys. Rev. A 110, 042215 (2024).
8.Bao, Z. et al. Creating and controlling global Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger entanglement on quantum processors. Nat Commun 15, 8823 (2024).
9.Yao, Y. et al. Observation of many-body Fock space dynamics in two dimensions. Nat. Phys. 19, 1459–1465 (2023).
10.Xu, S. et al. Digital Simulation of Projective Non-Abelian Anyons with 68 Superconducting Qubits. Chinese Phys. Lett. 40, 060301 (2023).
11.Dong, H. et al. Disorder-tunable entanglement at infinite temperature. Science Advances 9, eadj3822 (2023).
12.Zhang, X. et al. Digital quantum simulation of Floquet symmetry-protected topological phases. Nature 607, 468–473 (2022).
13.Zhang, K. et al. Synthesizing Five-Body Interaction in a Superconducting Quantum Circuit. Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 190502 (2022).
14.Ren, W. et al. Experimental quantum adversarial learning with programmable superconducting qubits. Nat Comput Sci 2, 711–717 (2022).
15.Deng, J. et al. Observing the quantum topology of light. Science 378, 966–971 (2022).
16.Wang, Z. et al. Scalable Evaluation of Quantum-Circuit Error Loss Using Clifford Sampling. Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 080501 (2021).
17.Guo, Q. et al. Observation of energy-resolved many-body localization. Nat. Phys. 17, 234–239 (2021).
18.Guo, Q. et al. Stark Many-Body Localization on a Superconducting Quantum Processor. Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 240502 (2021).
19.Wang, Z. et al. Controllable Switching between Superradiant and Subradiant States in a 10-qubit Superconducting Circuit. Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 013601 (2020).
20.Wang, D.-W. et al. Synthesis of antisymmetric spin exchange interaction and chiral spin clusters in superconducting circuits. Nature Physics 15, 382 (2019).
21.Song, C. et al. Generation of multicomponent atomic Schrödinger cat states of up to 20 qubits. Science 365, 574–577 (2019).
22.Li, H. et al. Tunable coupling between Xmon qubit and coplanar waveguide resonator. Chin. Phys. B 28, 80305–080305 (2019).