Chen Chuangtian | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
陈创天 | |||||||||||||
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| Born | (1937-02-18)18 February 1937 | ||||||||||||
| Died | 31 October 2018(2018-10-31) (aged 81) Beijing, China | ||||||||||||
| Alma mater | Peking University | ||||||||||||
| Known for | Discovery ofBBO,LBO and KBBF | ||||||||||||
| Awards | CAS Science and Technology Progress Award (1986) TWAS Prize in Chemistry (1987) State Technological Invention Award, First Class (1991) Laudise Prize (2013) | ||||||||||||
| Scientific career | |||||||||||||
| Fields | Materials science,physical chemistry | ||||||||||||
| Institutions | Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter | ||||||||||||
| Academic advisors | Lu Jiaxi | ||||||||||||
| Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 陳創天 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 陈创天 | ||||||||||||
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Chen Chuangtian (Chinese:陈创天; 18 February 1937 – 31 October 2018), also known asChuang-Tian Chen, was a Chinesematerials scientist andphysical chemist who specialized in crystals used in lasers. He discovered thenonlinear optical crystalsBBO,LBO and KBBF, which have important uses in areas includingsuperconductor research, semiconductorphotolithography, and the medical industry. He was an academician of theChinese Academy of Sciences and a fellow ofThe World Academy of Sciences. He was awarded theTWAS Prize inChemistry, theState Technological Invention Award (First Class), and the Laudise Prize.
Chen was born on 18 February 1937 inFenghua,Zhejiang, China. He studied at Shenyang No. 2 High School, and was accepted by the Department of Physics ofPeking University in August 1956.[1] After graduating in 1962, he entered the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter inFuzhou on the recommendation ofHu Ning, and studied under physical chemistLu Jiaxi for three years.[2]
In 1965, Chen chosenonlinear optical materials as his research direction and spent the next two years calculating the nonlinear optical coefficients of many crystals.[2] In the late 1970s and the 1980s, Chen and his team discovered the new nonlinear optical crystalsBaB2O4 (BBO) andLiB3O5 (LBO).[2]
In 1988, Chen and his team began searching for optical compounds that could produce shorter ultraviolet wavelengths. After researching hundreds of compounds, they discovered potassium beryllium fluoroborate (KBBF), a nonlinear optical crystal which is capable of generating light within a very narrow bandwidth, with wavelengths of less than 200 nanometers.[3] The crystal is important insuperconductor research and can allow the replacement ofexcimer laser withsolid-state ones inphotolithography used in the semiconductor and the medical industries.[3] Until at least 2009, Chen's laboratory at the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter was the only place in the world that could produce KBBF.[3] In 2013, Chen and his colleagueXu Zuyan [zh] invented the DUV-DPL device (deep ultravioletdiode-pumped solid-state laser), with a wavelength of only 177.3 nm.[4]
Chen died on 31 October 2018 in Beijing, at the age of 81.[2][5]
Chen was elected a fellow ofThe World Academy of Sciences in 1990 and an academician of theChinese Academy of Sciences in 2003.[1]
Chen was awarded the 1987TWAS Prize in Chemistry, "for his outstanding contribution to the development of new nonlinear optical materials, the formulation of a quantum chemical theory that guides the search for such materials and the discovery ofbeta barium borate andlithium triborate".[6] He won a Special Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award of theChinese Academy of Sciences in 1986 for his discovery of BBO and theState Technological Invention Award (First Class) in 1991 for LBO.[2][7] In 2013, he was awarded the Laudise Prize by the International Organization for Crystal Growth.[8][9]
