Internal News

Dr. Pi Jinghui has successfully passed his completion-of-tenure post-doctoral defence.

On 24 September 2026, the completion-of-tenure post-doctoral defence of Dr. Pi Jinghui from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen Research Institute (hereinafter referred to as SZRI) was successfully held in the meeting room on the third floor of Building R4, Shenzhen Virtual University Park. The successful defence marks the full completion of research tasks undertaken by Dr. Pi during his post-doctoral training, concluding his research work at SZRI. 

The defence was conducted in a hybrid mode. The review panel consisted of Professor Zhang Ren from Xi'an Jiaotong University, Professor Zhang Yongping from Shanghai University, Research Fellow Wu Zhigang from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Laboratory, Research Fellow Shi Zheyu from East China Normal University, and Professor Yan Yangqian from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Also in attendance were Li Yangyan from the Research Adeministration Section of SZRI, together with relevant staff from the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Strategy Research Centre and the Post-doctoral Research Workstation of Shenzhen Virtual University Park.

During the defence, Pi Jinghui presented a report titled "Critical Dynamics in Open Quantum Systems," introducing his research on "Band Theory of Open Systems" since joining the station in November 2024. The first work reveals the geometric origin of self-intersection points in non-Hermitian energy spectra and their correspondence with the auxiliary generalized Brillouin zone and Brillouin zone intersection points. This work was published in Physical Review B (2025). The second work reveals the saddle-point dynamics of systems with imaginary gap closure: the power-law exponent of the trivial point-gap model depends on the order of the saddle point; the non-trivial point-gap periodic model studied exhibits short-time exponential decay and a long-time power-law return peak envelope. This work was published in Physical Review B (2026). The third work concerns measurement-resolved critical relaxation: under the same system and initial state, different observables have different degrees of overlap with the slow decay mode, which can produce different power-law exponents. The related paper is in preparation.

The review panel engaged in discussion on the research methods and scope of application, considering that Dr. Pi Jinghui's work during his postdoctoral period was substantial and innovative, meeting the relevant requirements for postdoctoral completion. The panel unanimously agreed that he passed the final defense.

About the SZRI Physics and Astronomy Laboratory

Co-led by Professor Yan Renbin, Research Fellow of the Shenzhen Research Institute and Professor in the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Assistant Professor Yan Yangqian, Associate Research Fellow of the Shenzhen Research Institute and Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. The laboratory mainly conducts research in astronomy and ultracold atomic physics, specifically involving astronomical instruments, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, as well as quantum phase transitions, dissipation, and topological order.