TEDA Institute of Applied Physics (IAP) is located in the heart of the Tianjin Economic-technology Development Area (TEDA), the northern center of China's booming economy. More than 2000 mostly international or joint-venture companies are in its closest vicinity. TEDA-IAP is co-operatively run by TEDA College and by the College of Physics of Nankai University, one of the top-ten universities of China.
The mission of TEDA-IAP is to become an internationally distinguished Center of Excellence in Applied Physics. We want to serve as an education and training basis for fundamental physics and as a center for technologically oriented research thus providing the human resources demanded by the high-tech industry of the Tianjin Economic-technology Development Area. The objective of TEDA-IAP is to play an exemplary role for the cooperation between academic institutions and industry. Our particular task is to contribute to solutions for the development of key technologies of the nearby high-tech industry. The Tianjin Crystal Blue Optoelectronic Tech Co., Ltd is a spin-off company of TEDA-IAP.
TEDA-IAP was from TEDA Applied Physics School (APS) established in 2003, which started up from the Laboratory of Holographic Storage and Technique and from the Research Center for Optoelectronics and change its name to TEDA Institute of Applied Physics in 2013. The founder and first Dean of IAP (APS), Prof. Dr. Jingjun Xu, has built up IAP from scratch to the powerful and excellently equipped research institution it is today. Under his deanship the Tianjin Government Key Laboratory for Photonics Materials and Information Science Technology (TGKL-PMIST) has been founded in 2004 and the Key Laboratory of the Ministry of Education for Low-Intensity Nonlinear Photonics in 2006. In 2006 Prof. Jingjun Xu was promoted Vice President of Nankai University. As part of the academic quality management the Materials Physics and Chemistry Division of APS (IAP) were evaluated and passed as Tianjin Key Disciplines in 2006 and its Optics Division as National Key Discipline in 2007. In 2007 a new policy was put into action by University President Prof. Dr. Rao Zhehe to fortify the position of Nankai University as one of the elite universities of China and to strive for its merited rank among the top-100 of the world universities.
At present the main research fields of TEDA-IAP are in physics of nonlinear materials, low-intensity nonlinear optics, microscopic quantum coherent optics, advanced fabrication techniques for photonic materials, spectroscopy, sensor techniques, quantum materials and devices, and nano-photonics.
As an independent graduate and post-graduate elite institution of Nankai University, TEDA-IAP became the experimental ground for advanced study concepts of Nankai University. We want to be attractive for domestic and international talents; simply recruiting the best and providing the best of study environment for them is our motto when selecting the students for TEDA-APS. To achieve our ambitious goals, more than 7000 square meters were allocated by TEDA College for laboratories, offices, and seminar rooms and more than 40 million RMB have been invested in research equipment to promote the rise of TEDA-APS to an academic institution of international reputation. At present there are 26 full-time staff members, and there are 16 full-time professors, 4 associated professors, and 3 senior engineers among them. Four teachers were awarded by the National Natural Science Fund as Outstanding Young Scholars (Jingjun Xu, Jianguo Tian, Zhigang Chen, and Shuqi Chen), three were granted the distinguished support of the Trans-Century Training Programme Foundation for Talents by the Ministry of Education of China (Jingjun Xu, Jianguo Tian, and Yongfa Kong),and four were received the honorable support of the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University. Lectures, seminars, instruction, and guiding into up-to-date research work can be offered in English. Regulations and infrastructure were adapted to facilitate access of post doctors and PhD students from all over the world (applications can be handed in at any time). It is recognized that Nankai University has a strategic interest to warmly welcome in particular foreign physics students.
