School of Information Engineering · Sanming University
We establish femtosecond-level timing lock across 1 μm, 1.55 μm and 1.9 μm — and study how solitons pull, capture and lose each other inside coupled cavities.
The Ultrafast Photonics Lab belongs to the School of Information Engineering at Sanming University and is affiliated with the Fujian Key Laboratory of Agricultural IoT Application. Our work runs the full chain from devices (saturable absorbers) to mechanisms (nonlinear dynamics) to sources (mid-infrared femtosecond lasers).
The performance ceiling of an ultrafast fiber laser is set by the bandwidth of its saturable absorber, the balance of intracavity nonlinearity and dispersion, and the timing coupling between multiple pulse trains. We work along that chain — moving from "getting light out" to "getting light out controllably".
A single double-walled carbon nanotube (DWCNT) saturable absorber mode-locks three cavities at 1 μm, 1.55 μm and 1.9 μm over a bandwidth exceeding 900 nm — and locks them to each other in time. We map how the capture range depends on common-arm length and pump ratio; experiments show the in-phase capture window peaks at a common arm of about 6 m.
Pulse timings reduce to a circle map with two competing coupling channels: an attractive force from total-intensity bleaching of the shared absorber, and a repulsive force from cross-phase-modulation-induced frequency shifts. The full phase diagram in the pump-ratio–cavity-mismatch plane is classified by largest Lyapunov exponent and winding number into phase locking, quasi-periodic slipping, chaotic timing dynamics and free-running unlocking.
Conventional SESAMs are narrowband and degrade irreversibly above roughly 1–2 W of intracavity average power. We study the nonlinear optical response and fabrication of DWCNTs, MoS₂ and related low-dimensional materials, balancing modulation depth, response time, damage threshold and long-term stability.
Self-mode-locking combined with dispersion management delivers high-energy pulses from a 2 μm Tm-doped fiber laser, while a CNT-NALM hybrid structure improves robustness against pump fluctuation and loss perturbation. In parallel, we combine deep learning with physical models to control the polarization state of a mode-locked laser — letting the laser find its own stable operating point.
More than ten SCI papers as first or corresponding author, in journals including Nanophotonics, Optics Letters, Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, and Journal of Lightwave Technology.
Chaos, Solitons & Fractals · Sanming University as first affiliation First author
Nanomaterials 16(15) 911 · undergraduate Jiahao Huang as first author Corresponding
Photonics 13(7) 651 Co-author
Nanophotonics 14(6) 677–706 · with B. A. Malomed, Z. Sun et al. Co-author
Study on Optical Communications 2025(6) 250115 · Chinese core journal Corresponding
Low-Dimensional Materials 1(1) 2 · review Co-corresponding
Applied Physics Letters First author
Journal of the Optical Society of America A Co-author
Optics Letters First author
Nanophotonics 12(17) 3397–3407 First author
Optics Express 31(20) 32373–32382 First author
Journal of Lightwave Technology 40(7) 2123 · 50+ citations First author
Optics Communications 508 127711 First author
PhD · Associate Professor · Master's supervisor · Head, Department of IoT Engineering
Dr. Zheng received his B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering and Automation from Wuhan University in 2015, and his PhD from the College of Electronic and Information Engineering at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was a CSC-funded visiting PhD student at Aalto University, Finland (Prof. Zhipei Sun's group, QTF Centre of Excellence). His research covers laser technology, ultrafast photonics and intelligent lasers.
The group is affiliated with the Fujian Key Laboratory of Agricultural IoT Application and maintains long-term collaborations with the QTF Centre of Excellence at Aalto University, Tel Aviv University, Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Normal University.
Cross-group collaboration in laser propagation, optical information devices, intelligent algorithms and materials
Holds PhDs in computer science and physical chemistry; Fujian Class-C senior talent. Works on IoT, blockchain and AI, with 9 national/provincial projects, 16 patents and 15 software copyrights.
Studies laser propagation through turbulent media and multimode optical field interpretation; awarded a 2025 NSFC Young Scientists Fund grant.
PhD in optical engineering from Fujian Normal University. Works on polarization holography, optical data storage and imaging metrology; 10+ SCI papers and five national key R&D sub-projects.
Listed among the world's top 2% scientists and China's top 1% highly cited researchers (2025); supports the group in intelligent optimisation and laser state prediction.
Works at the interface of atmospheric environment governance and AI, with a 2026 single-institution paper in Journal of Cleaner Production and a first-author paper in Ecological Indicators.
QTF Centre of Excellence (Aalto University, Finland), Tel Aviv University, Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Normal University — covering device fabrication, field-level simulation and experimental validation.
With Sanming University as the first affiliation, the paper introduces a "competing couplings" picture of four synchronization regimes and provides design rules for multimodal nonlinear imaging sources.
The new degree programme covers computer technology, artificial intelligence and optoelectronic information engineering. The group now admits master's students in the last of these.
Jiahao Huang is first author; the review surveys nonlinear optical properties, fabrication strategies and mode-locking applications of two-dimensional MoS₂.
Dr. Zheng shared strategies for integrating explicit and implicit threads of ideological education into IoT engineering courses.
Dr. Zheng presented "Passive synchronization of ultrafast fiber lasers: mechanisms, implementation and applications", covering multicolor passive synchronization via cross-phase modulation and DWCNT saturable absorbers.
The lab supports the full cycle of fiber laser work — cavity design, fiber splicing, loss measurement, pulse characterization and numerical modelling.
We welcome students and collaborators interested in ultrafast optics, nonlinear dynamics and intelligent lasers. You do not need to know how to build a laser on day one — but you should be willing to get your hands dirty and to chase a phenomenon to the end.
We admit professional master's students through the Electronic Information programme (optoelectronic information engineering track) at Sanming University.
The group regularly supervises national and provincial undergraduate innovation projects and student competitions. Several undergraduates have published as first authors.
We are open to joint research, joint proposals and sample testing in ultrafast sources, nonlinear optics, fiber devices and intelligent control.
The lab is located at Sanming University, Sanming, Fujian. Please contact us by email before visiting.
Send your CV and a short statement of research interests to
jczheng@fjsmu.edu.cn