Skip to main content
Prof MA, Guancong

Prof MA, Guancong, 馬冠聰博士

Professor

M.Phil. and Ph.D., Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
B. S. South China University of Technology

Biography

Dr. Guancong Ma is currently a professor of physics at Hong Kong Baptist University. He received B.Sc. in applied physics at the South China University of Technology in 2007 and then Ph.D. in physics at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in 2012. After that, he became a postdoc fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study and the Department of Physics at the same institution until 2017, when he joined the Department of Physics at Hong Kong Baptist University. He now serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Physics Society of Hong Kong. Dr. Ma was awarded the “Young Investigator Award 2021” by the International Phononics Society, and was selected as one of the “Top 10 Rising Stars in Science and Technology 2021” by the China Association for Science and Technology. He is the recipient of the “C. N. Yang Award” in 2022 –  a prize from the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies and the Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics. Dr. Ma has obtained the support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Excellent Young Scientists Scheme (Hong Kong & Macao). 
 
Dr. Ma’s research currently focuses on studying topological physics and non-Hermitian physics in using acoustic-wave and mechanical platforms. He is also interested in metamaterials and complex waves. He has published over 50 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Materials, Nature Physics, Physical Review X, Physical Review Letters. His papers have received over 7000 citations, which, according to Charivate, makes him one of the “World’s Top 2% Scientists.” Dr. Ma also holds 11 patents from the United States and China.

Current Research Interests

Acoustic Waves, Acoustic Metamaterials

Dr. Ma’s studies classical wave physics. His focus is on acoustic waves and elastic waves. The topics of interests include acoustic metamaterials, elastic metamaterials, phononic crystals, wavefield shaping, non-Hermitian wave system, etc.

Some of Dr. Ma’s research achievements are:

  1. The development of membrane-type acoustic metamaterials with various extreme properties;
  2. The development of resonant elastic metamaterials, in particular, the first experimental realization of the elastic property of fluid in fully solid composite materials;
  3. The first experimental observation of geometric phase of Bloch bands in acoustics;
  4. The first experimental study of high-order (>2) exceptional points in any physical system.
  5. Realization of the first “spatial sound modulators” capable of active re-shaping of complex sound field.

Selected Publications

[10] Wei Wang§, Xulong Wang§, Guancong Ma†, “Non-Hermitian Morphing of Topological Modes,” Nature 608, 50–55 (2022). [link]  

[9] Wei Wang, Xulong Wang, Guancong Ma†, “Extended State in a Localized Continuum,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 264301 (2022). [link

[8] Xu-Lin Zhang†, Feng Yu, Ze-Guo Chen, Zhen-Nan Tian†, Qi-Dai Chen, Hong-Bo Sun†, Guancong Ma†, “Non-Abelian Braiding on Photonic Chips,” Nat. Photon. 16, 390–395 (2022). [link]  

[7] Ze-Guo Chen, Ruo-Yang Zhang, C. T. Chan, Guancong Ma†, “Classical Non-Abelian Braiding of Acoustic Modes,” Nat. Phys. 18, 179–184 (2022). [link] (High 

[6] Weiyuan Tang, Kun Ding†, Guancong Ma†, “Experimental Realization of Non-Abelian Permutations in a Non-Hermitian System,” NatlSci. Rev. 9, nwac010 (2022). [link]  

[5] Wei Wang, Ze-Guo Chen, Guancong Ma†, “Synthetic Three-Dimensional  Topological Insulator in an Elastic Metacrystal,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 214302 (2021). [link

[4] Weiyuan Tang, Kun Ding†, Guancong Ma†, “Direct Measurement of Topological Properties of an Exceptional Parabola,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 127, 034301 (2021). [link

[3] Ze-Guo Chen, Weiyuan Tang, Ruo-Yang Zhang, Zhaoxian Chen, Guancong Ma†, “Landau-Zener Transition in The Dynamic Transfer of Acoustic Topological States,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 054301 (2021). [link

[2] Ze-Guo Chen, Weiwei Zhu, Yang Tan, Licheng Wang, Guancong Ma†, “Acoustic Realization of a Four-Dimensional Higher-Order Chern Insulator and Boundary-Modes Engineering,” Phys. Rev. X 11, 011016 (2021). [link

[1] Weiyuan Tang, Xue Jiang, Kun Ding†, Yi-Xin Xiao, Zhao-Qing Zhang, C. T. Chan, Guancong Ma†, “Exceptional Nexus with a Hybrid Topological Invariant,” Science 370, 1077–1080 (2020). [link]


† corresponding author; § equal contribution.