Dr Chao Wang

Dr Chao Wang is currently a Senior Lecturer in the School of Engineering, Mathematics and Physics (EMP), University of Kent, UK. His research interests lie in microwave photonics, ultrafast optical imaging, optical sensing, and optical smart computing for communications, biomedical and industrial applications. He is the Head of Instrumentation Photonics and Control (IPC) Research Group.

Prior to joining Kent, he was a NSERC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Photonics Lab at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), USA. He received his BEng degree in Opto-electronic Engineering from Tianjin University, China, his MSc degree in Optics from Nankai University, China, and his PhD degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Ottawa, Canada.

His research activities have been funded by EU Marie-Curie Actions, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) of UK, Innovate UK, the Royal Society, the UKRI Catapult programme, and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

He has published more than 200 journal articles and conference papers (including several invited papers and Best Paper Awards). He is a member of IEEE, Optica and IET, a Fellow of Higher Education Academy (HEA) of UK. He also serves as an active reviewer of many leading photonics journals of Optica, IEEE, Nature, SPIE, IET, Elsevier and Wile. He was an Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (2019-2022), and served as the Guest Editor of Special Session on Microwave Photonics in SPIE Optical Engineering. He was the Publication Officer of IEEE Photonics Society UKI Chapter.

Dr Wang’s research activities have been focused on inter-disciplinary areas that study the interaction between photonics and other traditional or state-of-the-art technologies in different fields, such as microwave photonics, biophotonics and fiber optics, for industrial, communications, biomedical, and energy applications.

• Optical fibre and photonic sensors
  Ultra-sensitive sensing for structural health monitoring, hydrogen safety, energy systems, and industrial environments.

• Ultrafast optical imaging and time-stretch systems
  High-speed imaging and signal acquisition for biomedical diagnostics and dynamic physical processes.

• Microwave photonics and RF sensing
  Photonic techniques for wideband RF generation, detection, and spectrum awareness.

• Optical and photonic intelligent computing
  Photonic reservoir computing and hardware-efficient machine learning for high-throughput sensing and imaging applications.

Dr. Wang’s teaching activities include

EENG5115 Mechatronics and Measurement

EENG5106 Electronics and Digital IC Design (Module Convener)

EENG6010 Final Projects

Dr. Wang welcomes interested PhD and MSc-Research students with backgrounds in optics/optoelectronics, electronic engineering, physics/applied physics, and related STEM disciplines to join his research team to work on exciting research projects at the intersection of photonics, sensing, ultrafast systems, and intelligent optical technologies.

• Regular Reviewer of more than 20 international Journals from IEEE, OSA, Nature, AIP, IET, SPIE, Elsevier, and Wiley. 
• Remote Referee of European Research Council (2016-2017)
• Grant Reviewer and Panelist of British Council Newton Fund (2014-2017)
• Member of EPSRC Associate Peer Review College (2016- ) 
• Guest Editor of SPIE Optical Engineering (2015) and MDPI Photonics (2017).
• External examiner for PhD viva in Aston, VUB and Monash.