Prof. Ze Zhang

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Academic Career Length

16Years (2011-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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1 July 2019 in APL Photonics

Journal Article

Robust propagation of pin-like optical beam through atmospheric turbulence

Ze Zhang

Xinli Liang

Mihalis Goutsoulas

Denghui Li

Xiuting Yang

Zhigang Chen

We design and demonstrate what we called shape-preserving “optical pin beams” (OPBs) that possess stable wavefronts against diffraction and ambient turbulence during free-space long distance propagation. Theoretically, we show that a laser beam passing through properly assembled phase elements paired with opposite transverse wavevectors can morph quickly into a stable optical field, exhibiting “self-focusing” dynamics during propagation without optical nonlinearity. The overall shape of such OPBs remains invariant, while their width can in principle be inversely proportional to the propagation distance, in contradistinction to conventional Bessel beams and radially symmetric Airy beams. Experimentally, utilizing a single photoetched mask, we demonstrate efficient generation and robust propagation of the OPB through atmospheric turbulence beyond kilometer distances. We envisage exciting opportunities arising from such OPBs, especially when propagation through turbulent environments is unavoidable.

11 October 2024 in Remote Sensing

Journal Article

Underwater Optical Imaging: Methods, Applications and Perspectives

Underwater optical imaging is essential for exploring the underwater environment to provide information for planning and regulating underwater activities in various underwater applications, such as aquaculture farm observation, underwater topographical survey, and underwater infrastructure monitoring. Thus, there is a need to investigate the underwater imaging process and propose clear and long-range underwater optical imaging methods to fulfill the demands of academia and industry. In this manuscript, we classify the eighteen most commonly used underwater optical imaging methods into two groups regarding the imaging principle, (1) hardware and (2) software-based methods, each with an explanation of the theory, features, and applications. Furthermore, we also discuss the current challenges and future directions for improving the performance of current methods, such as improving the accuracy of underwater image formation model estimation, enlarging the underwater image dataset, proposing comprehensive underwater imaging evaluation metrics, estimating underwater depth and integrating different methods (e.g., hardware- and software-based methods for computational imaging) to promote the imaging performance not only in the laboratory but also in practical underwater scenarios.

1 July 2022 in Crystals

Journal Article

Optical Terahertz Sources Based on Difference Frequency Generation in Nonlinear Crystals

Terahertz (THz) sources, ranging from 0.1 THz to 10 THz, between microwaves and infrared waves, have important applications in spectral detection, medical imaging, communication, etc. Difference frequency generation (DFG) is an effective method for generating terahertz with the characteristics of low cost, simple structure, widely tunable range, no threshold, and room-temperature operation. This paper reviews various optical terahertz sources of difference frequency generation based on nonlinear crystals, including DFG with inorganic crystals, DFG with organic crystals, DFG with quasi-phase-matching (QPM) crystals, DFG in waveguides, cavity-enhanced DFG, and cascaded DFG. Their recent advances, as well as their advantages and disadvantages, are fully present and discussed. This review is expected to provide a comprehensive reference for researchers in this field and a quick understanding of optical THz sources of difference frequency generation with nonlinear crystals.

11 October 2018 in Journal of Materials Science

Journal Article

Cubic-like BaZrO3 nanocrystals with exposed {001}/{011} facets and tuned electronic band structure for enhanced photocatalytic hydrogen production

8 October 2021 in Applied Optics

Journal Article

Single-pixel neural network object classification of sub-Nyquist ghost imaging

Jia-Ning Cao

Yu-Hui Zuo

Hua-Hua Wang

Wei-Dong Feng

Zhi-Xin Yang

Ze Zhang

A single-pixel neural network object classification scenario in the sub-Nyquist ghost imaging system is proposed. Based on the neural network, objects are classified directly by bucket measurements without reconstructing images. Classification accuracy can still be maintained at 94.23% even with only 16 measurements (less than the Nyquist limit of 1.56%). A parallel computing scheme is applied in data processing to reduce the object acquisition time significantly. Random patterns are used as illumination patterns to illuminate objects. The proposed method performs much better than existing methods for both binary and grayscale images in the sub-Nyquist condition, which is also robust to environment noise turbulence. Benefiting from advantages of ghost imaging, it may find applications for target recognition in the fields of remote sensing, military defense, and so on.

11 March 2022 in Optics Express

Journal Article

Steady optical beam propagating through turbulent environment

Xing Wang Kang

Xiuting Yang

Jian Ma

Yuhang Ren

Xinli Liang

Ze Zhang

A steady optical beam (SOB) propagating stably in a disorder medium is constructed by using a specially designed aspherical lens. Our theoretical and experimental results show that the generated SOB exhibits much better propagation features with small divergence and long Rayleigh length, as well as weak deformation through turbulent environment as compared with a conventional Gaussian beam. The beam parameter product of the SOB reaches 49.40% of the Gaussian beam by multiple measurements within a certain distance range. The SOB may find applications in optical communications and optical detection in turbulent transmission conditions.

About Me

Prof. Ze Zhang has a position as a researcher and is currently working at the Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. He is the Party Secretary of the Qilu Research Institute of the Aerospace Information Innovation Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He also serves as an expert of the Expert Group of the Military Commission Science and Technology Committee, an expert of the second or third expert group of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a part-time professor at the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications and the China University of Geosciences. He was a teacher at the Affiliated High School of Beijing Institute of Technology, an assistant researcher at the Institute of Optoelectronics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and an associate researcher at the Institute of Space Information Innovation, Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is mainly engaged in research on photoelectric limit detection, laser anti-atmospheric turbulence transmission, etc. As the project leader, he presided over many projects, including the 173 key projects of the Science and Technology Commission of the Central Military Commission, the H863 key project, the general project of the National Natural Science Foundation, the major project of the Joint Fund of Equipment and Development, the Civil Aviation Administration of China, and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He has published more than 30 SCI papers and invented patents.

Prof. Ze Zhang

Prof. Ze Zhang

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