Jigang Wang

Credentials

March 2005 – August 2008, Physicist Postdoctoral Fellow, Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
August 2006, Ph.D., Rice University
May 2002, M.S., Rice University
July 2000, B.S., Physics, Jilin University, P. R. China

July 2017 – present, Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
February 2019 – present, Senior Scientist in Materials Science and Engineering Division Team Leader of Light-Matter Quantum Control
Ames National Laboratory of US Department of Energy
August 2013 – June 2017, Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa State University
August 2008 – March 2013, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy Iowa State University
August 2008 – February 2019, Associate Staff Scientist in Materials Science and Engineering Division Ames National Laboratory, US Department of Energy

2024 OPTICA Fellow (formerly the Optical Society of America),
2021 APS Fellow
2020 University Award for Mid-Career Achievement in Research, Iowa State University
2018 F. Wendell Miller Professor, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Iowa State University
2015-2017 Ames National Laboratory Inventor Incentive Award
2016 The M. W. Keck Award for Extreme Quantum Terahertz Nanoscope
2011 National Science Foundation Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award
2011 LAS Award for Early Achievement in Research, Iowa State University
2007 Luis Alvarez Award for Best Experimental Research, American Physical Society, 2007 California Section
2006 Top Ten Papers of 2006, Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter

Driven quantum systems, coherent dynamics, ultrafast spectroscopy, and nano-imaging of complex materials.
Ultrafast laser spectroscopy, magneto-topical spectroscopy and microscopy techniques, spanning from far-infrared to ultraviolet, that allow for the simultaneous space, energy and time visualization of coherent effects and correlation phenomena.
Customer-build laser-based scanning probe microscopies under extreme environments of high magnetic field and cryogenic temperature.

I investigate diverse light-driven coherent and non-equilibrium quantum systems from superconducting, magnetic, and topological materials to nano-junctions and quantum circuits.
The scientific driver is to both provide a fundamental understanding of quantum many-body correlations out-of-equilibrium and achieve coherent light-matter control at quantum limit. I implement this vision by developing cutting-edge ultrafast, coherent spectroscopy and nano-imaging tools over a wide frequency spectrum, spanning from terahertz, infrared to ultraviolet.
Some of my achievements in studies of light-driven quantum materials are summarized in my APS fellow citation – “For his study of coherent excitations and out-of-equilibrium topological and magnetic phenomena, especially his discoveries of light-induced Weyl and Dirac semimetals and Higgs modes in Iron-based superconductors.”
Some of my other contributions are summarized in my OPTICA fellow citation – “For outstanding contributions to ultrafast spectroscopy and pioneering development of ultralow cryogenic magneto-THz microscopy, unveiling significant discoveries of light-matter quantum coherent phenomena.”