Since Eyring and Polanyi’s seminal work on the transition state in chemical reactions in the 1930s, the research of chemical dynamics has achieved many scientific milestones, which were recognized by several Nobel Prizes.

Xueming Yang developed new-generation molecular beam instruments with high resolution and sensitivity. He achieved breakthrough results in reactive resonances, geometrical phase effects, and quantum interferences in chemical reactions. With the development of quantum state-specific backward scattering spectroscopy, he revealed signatures of reaction resonances in a series of chemical reactions. In addition, he developed high-resolution crossed-beam reaction imaging techniques and observed the geometric phase effect and quantum interference between spin-orbit split partial wave resonances in a chemical reaction for the first time.

Yang’s scientific research and his new-generation molecular beam instruments have provided powerful tools for unveiling the quantum nature of chemical reaction dynamics. His new discoveries have expanded the field of reaction dynamics to unprecedented depth and breadth.

Xueming Yang was born in Zhejiang, China in 1962 and received his Ph.D. from University of California at Santa Barbara in 1991. He is currently a professor at Southern University of Science and Technology and a Research Fellow at Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences.