杨宗银教授分别在浙江大学机械系、浙江大学光电系和剑桥大学电子工程系获得学士、硕士和博士学位。2019年博士毕业于剑桥大学电子工程系后从事博士后研究，期间被选为剑桥大学国王学院Fellow。2020年加盟浙江大学，2021年被评为浙江大学启真优秀青年学者，信息学部青年创新奖，入选中国区《麻省理工科技评论》35岁以下科技创新35人，并获得优秀青年基金（海外）资助。2023年获得阿里巴巴达摩院“青橙奖”。他在半导体光电子器件领域系统性地发表了SCI期刊论文40篇（23篇 IF>10），引用2800余次。其中，在Science上发表论文3篇（其中2篇一作），另外还以第一作者在Nano Letters 和 Journal of the American Chemical Society (JACS) 等顶级期刊上发表多篇论文，今年有多篇论文在Nature 子刊上接收。
承担科技部重点研发计划青年科学家项目（主持）、国家自然科学基金专项（主持2700万），国家自然科学基金重点项目（课题负责人）、国家自然科学基金青年项目、曹光彪高科技发展基金、浙江省创新团队等项目。
实验室研究方向：1.光电传感器小型化，曾开发出世界最小光谱仪，世界最灵敏光谱仪和最宽波长可调纳米激光器等。2.纳米机器人，在电子显微镜SEM下通过力传感反馈纳米机械手组装纳米机器人，实现光电驱动的纳米注射器，纳米马达等器件。3.光制冷，设计特殊结构的半导体纳米材料实现在光照下一端制冷一端制热效果。4.红外高速多光谱光谱仪。5.通过光谱探测实现无创血糖检测。实验室具备从材料制备、器件加工和表征、系统集成和软件开发全套设备和技术积累。
竞赛与产业化：指导学生获得过第八届全国互联网＋比赛金奖，第七届、第八届、第九届浙江省互联网＋比赛金奖，浙江省挑战杯金奖，有多个项目已经实现产业化。
出国：已成功推荐3名本科生进入剑桥大学，2名学生进入EPFL攻读博士学位。
读研：实验室每年有1-2个博士名额和1-2个硕士名额，欢迎对科研或者产业化有兴趣的本科生加入研究组。
Spectroscopic analysis is one of the most widely used analytical tools across both scientific research and industry. Miniaturization of spectroscopic systems enables a wide range of handheld, portable, and integrated applications, where minimizing size, weight, cost, and power consumption are essential. Prof. Zongyin Yang, is dedicated to miniaturizing spectroscopic light sources and detectors. He contributed valuable advancements in this field, such as inventing the world’s smallest spectrometer, developing the widest wavelength-tunable nanolaser, and being the first to propose synthesis methods for bandgap-graded semiconductors.
Figure 1 Summary of Zongyin’s research works
Demonstration of our microspectrometer
1. Invented the world's smallest spectrometer
Spectrometers serve as detectors for spectroscopic systems. Conventional spectrometers typically rely on a combination of bulky dispersive optics, long optical path lengths, detector arrays, and movable parts. These designs face fundamental limitations due to adverse effects of shrinking their optical components or path lengths. There are certain scientific and technical challenges that need to be addressed for minimizing spectrometers.
Innovation: Zongyin proposed a new paradigm for the miniaturization of spectrometers, where light dispersion and detection are carried out in an individual nanomaterial structure, representing a platform unmatched in both simplicity and its compact design. Zongyin has published two papers in Science as the first author in the field of miniaturization of spectrometers (one is a research paper and the other one is a review). Zongyin demonstrated the world's smallest spectrometer based on the proposed principles. The active element of the spectrometer, where light is both detected and spectrally resolved, is scaled down to a single compositionally graded nanowire, just hundreds of nanometers in diameter and tens of micrometers long. This is smaller than the diameter of human hair. The system functions without any complex optics or filters; incident spectra are reconstructed from spectral response functions and photocurrents are measured using a series of electrodes along the nanowire. Despite having such a simple structure, the device is capable of accurate monochromatic and broadband light reconstruction, as well as spectral imaging from centimeter-scale image planes down to lensless, single-cell scale in-situ mapping. This spectrometer concept could open novel opportunities for almost any miniaturized spectroscopic application, including lab-on-a-chip systems, drones, implants, and wearable devices.
Figure 2 (a) shows photographs and micrographs of a nanowire spectrometer. The size of the sensor is tens of microns only, and the dimensions of the packaged chip are less than 1 cm. Figure 2 (b) illustrates the working principle of the nanowire spectrometer. Figure 2 (c) displays the cover of the microspectrometer review paper. It was the first that classified the miniaturized spectrometers into four categories: dispersion optics, narrow-band filters, Fourier transform and computational spectrum.
As the first author, Zongyin wrote in 2021 a review on microspectrometers for Science. This article standardized the terminology, reviewed the development, and proposed opportunities in microspectroscopy. This article has attracted considerable attention from academia and industry.
The University of Cambridge reported this research on its homepage under the title "Nanowires replace Newton’s famous glass prism." This research work is introduced in many books, such as "Computer vision".
Zongyin further developed and commercialized miniaturized spectrometers and produced spectral cameras that can be integrated into smartphones. A wide range of applications can benefit from such a spectral camera, including non-destructive food and drug testing, biological testing, health diagnostics, and camouflage recognition.
As the first author, Zongyin wrote in 2021 a review on microspectrometers for Science. This article standardized the terminology, reviewed the development, and proposed opportunities in microspectroscopy. This article has attracted considerable attention from academia and industry.
The University of Cambridge reported this research on its homepage under the title "Nanowires replace Newton’s famous glass prism." This research work is introduced in many books, such as "Computer vision".
Zongyin further developed and commercialized miniaturized spectrometers and produced spectral cameras that can be integrated into smartphones. A wide range of applications can benefit from such a spectral camera, including non-destructive food and drug testing, biological testing, health diagnostics, and camouflage recognition.
Figure 3 shows the technical improvement and commercialization of miniature spectrometers. Figure 3 (a) specifies the development from the first-generation nanowire spectrometer reported in Science to the thin-film spectral cameras, which was a major leap in spectral resolution and sensitivity. Figure 3 (b) indicates the tests done using a Huawei P9 mobile phone to realize line-scan spectral imaging.
In addition to the innovation in the field of spectroscopic detection, Zongyin has made several breakthroughs in other parts of the spectroscopic system.
2. Developed nanolasers with the world's widest tunable wavelength range
Innovation: Wavelength-tunable laser can perform as spectroscopic light source. Zongyin proposed the use of bandgap-graded semiconductor materials as variable laser gain and demonstrated the world's widest wavelength-tunable nanolasers. This research was published in the prestigious scientific journal Nano Letters with Zongyin as the first author. A review in Nature Reviews Materials cited and evaluated this work, "This is an important method for realizing wide-spectrum tunable nanolasers." This tunable laser not only has a wide, adjustable range, but also has a small footprint. In addition, it can be used in optical communications, the military, and for environmental monitoring.
Figure 4 displays a schematic diagram of (a–e) wavelength-tunable nanolasers by cutting off the bandgap-graded nanowires. Figure 4(f) shows continuous wavelength-tunable nanolasers.
3. Proposed synthesis methods for bandgap-graded semiconductors
Innovation: Bandgap-graded semiconductor materials lay the research foundation for miniaturized spectrometer and wavelength-tunable nanolasers. Zongyin initiated two methods to synthesize bandgap-graded materials: the source-moving and substrate-moving synthesis. The methods and results were published in the respected journals Nano Letters and Journal of the American Chemical Society with Zongyin as the first author.
Figure 5a and 5c display schematic diagrams of source-moving and substrate-moving synthesis methods, respectively.