AFML
Group Leader: Professor Yong Li
Deputy Director of Institute of Acoustics of Tongji University
Deputy Director of Civil Aviation Key Laboratory of Intelligent Assisted Airworthiness for Aircraft Structures
Research Interests: Physical Acoustics, Acoustic Metamaterials, Noise and Vibration Control
We are always seeking outstanding postdoctoral researchers and highly motivated Ph.D. and M.S. students to join our group. Prospective candidates are encouraged to contact us for further information.
👨🏫 About Us
Focusing on the scientific challenges of acoustic field manipulation in complex environments, Professor Li has long been engaged in the theoretical and applied research of acoustic functional materials. As the first or corresponding author (including co-authors), he has published more than 110 papers in leading international journals such as Physical Review Letters, National Science Review, Science Advances, Nature Communications, Nature Reviews Materials, Nature Reviews Physics, Reports on Progress in Physics, and Science Bulletin, among which 14 are ESI highly cited papers. His research results have been selected multiple times as Editors’ Suggestions and have been featured by media outlets such as APS, AIP, Phys.org, Physics Buzz, and Science Daily. His publications have accumulated over 13,800 citations with an H-index of 54. He has been listed several times among the Highly Cited Researchers and the world’s top 2% scientists (career-long impact). He received the First Prize of the Ministry of Education Natural Science Award and the “Wei Mo’an Acoustics Award” from the Shanghai Acoustical Society, and his students won the National Gold Medal of the China International College Students Innovation Competition. Patents related to acoustic metamaterial absorbers have been successfully transferred and applied to large-scale wind-tunnel compressor noise-reduction systems, achieving low-noise operation of major equipment.
🧠 Research Interests
1. Manipulation of Exotic Fields with Acoustic Functional Materials
This direction focuses on the fundamental mechanisms of acoustic field manipulation in artificial structures and functional materials, exploring wave propagation, interference, and localization in complex media. The research emphasizes resonant coupling, wavefront shaping, and nonreciprocal sound transmission to elucidate the physical nature of sound–matter interactions, providing theoretical foundations and design principles for precise acoustic energy control and advanced acoustic devices.
2. Application Explorations of Acoustic Functional Materials
Aimed at the noise control and acoustic optimization needs of major equipment, this research advances the applied fundamentals of acoustic functional materials. It develops high-performance sound-absorbing metamaterials and multifunctional composites based on deep-subwavelength structural design, and systematically investigates energy management mechanisms involving resonance, coupling, interference, and dissipation. The goal is to realize broadband, efficient, lightweight, and programmable sound absorption and insulation schemes that support innovation in transportation, aerospace, and precision acoustic engineering.
3. Non-Hermitian and Topological Acoustics
This research area explores the emerging intersection of non-Hermitian physics and topological acoustics, focusing on the acoustic realization and dynamics of gain/loss modulation, exceptional points (EPs), and topological edge states. It uncovers new physical phenomena such as nonreciprocal sound propagation, asymmetric mode coupling, and robust energy transport. By constructing non-Hermitian topological structures and nonreciprocal acoustic channels, the work advances robust acoustic communication, reconfigurable wave control, and intelligent acoustic systems.
📢 Highlights
- 🪪 In April, Dr. Nengyin Wang was awarded as Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai
- 🎓 In March, Congratulations to Nengyin Wang on passing his PhD thesis defense
- 🌍 In March, Associate Professor Mourad Oudich and Dr. Anis Maddi from the University of Lorraine (France) visited the group for academic exchange
- 📝 In February, Hua Ding and Nengyin Wang published their research on Broadband Acoustic Metamaterial Liners under Grazing Flow in Physical Review Applied
- 📝 In February, Kaijing Liu and Yihuan Zhu published their research on AI-Driven Acoustic Metamaterials for Pixel-Accurate Sound Insulation Control in Chinese Physics Letters
- 📝 In January, Yu Xiao’s research on the evolution of scattering singularities in acoustic metasurfaces was published in Science China: Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy
- 📝 In January, Yujie Cheng and Hua Ding published their research on Broadband Lightweight Metal-Mesh-Integrated Acoustic Metaliner in Journal of Materials Chemistry A
- 🪪 In January, Professor Yong Li was selected for the 2025 Elsevier “Highly Cited Chinese Researchers”
- 🪪 In December, Ge Chuanhao’s master’s thesis was selected as Tongji University’s 2025 Excellent Master’s Thesis.
- 🔬 In December, Quansen Wang was selected for the CAST Young Scientific and Technological Talent Development Program (Doctoral Special Program)
- 🔬 In December, Yihuan Zhu was selected for the CAST Young Scientific and Technological Talent Development Program (Doctoral Special Program)
- 🔬 In December, Dr. Ruizhi Dong selected for the Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellence Program
- 🪪 In November, Nengyin Wang received the Tongji University Outstanding Student Model award
- 🪪 In November, Nengyin Wang received the Bronze Convergence Award at the 5th “HaiJu YingCai” Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship Competition
- 🪪 In November, Yihuan Zhu received the Tongji University Outstanding Doctoral Student Scholarship
- 🪪 In November, Professor Yong Li was invited to join the APS Open Science journal’s Editorial Advisory Board
- 🪪 In November, Huang Sibo was selected as a National High-Level Young Talent Program
- 🔬 In November, Dr. Zhiling Zhou received the Hong Kong RGC Junior Research Fellow Award
- 💼 In October, Dr. Sibo Huang appointed as Associate Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University
- 🪪 In October, Nengyin Wang received the National Doctoral Scholarship
- 🪪 In October, Quansen Wang received the National Doctoral Scholarship
- 🪪 In October, Chun Liu received the National Master’s Scholarship
- 📝 In September, Dr. Jingyi Chen and Dr. Zhiling Zhou published their research on hybrid degeneracy points in projected non-Hermitian systems in Physical Review Letters
- 🪪 In September, Prof. Yong Li recognized among the World’s Top 2% Scientists (Career Impact)
- 📝 In August, Quansen Wang and Chun Liu published their work on chirality-protected asymmetric acoustic information transport in Nature Communications
- 🪪 In June, Chun Liu received the ORION Master’s Scholarship from Université de Lorraine, France
- 📝 In June, Chuanhao Ge and Nengyin Wang published their research on the causality constraint in acoustic absorbers in Physical Review Letters
- 📝 In May, Nengyin Wang, Dr. Zhiling Zhou and Dr. Sibo Huang published their study on ultra-broadband metamaterial absorbers in National Science Review
- 📝 In May, Ruizhi Dong and Yihuan Zhu published their research on topological bound states in the continuum in Physical Review Letters
- 🪪 In May, Nengyin Wang received the Tongji University “Pursuing Excellence” Student Nomination Award
- 🔬 In December, Prof. Yong Li awarded the Shanghai “Oriental Talent” Leading Program
- 🔬 In December, Dr. Chen Shao selected for the Shanghai Post-doctoral Excellence Program
- 🪪 In December, Nengyin Wang recognized as one of the 18th Tongji University Academic Pioneer Graduate Students
- 🔬 In December, Quansen Wang received the NSFC Basic Research Doctoral Student Project
- 🪪 In November, Dr. Sibai Huang was selected for a National-Level Young Talent Program
- 🪪 In November, Quansen Wang received the ASA CIRE Student Award (Acoustical Society of America)
- 🔬 In November Dr. Chen Shao received the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grant
- 🪪 In October, Prof. Yong Li honored as Outstanding Innovation and Entrepreneurship Mentor at the China International College Students Innovation Competition
- 🏆 In October, Nengyin Wang and team won the National Gold Medal at the China International College Students Innovation Competition
- 🏆 In October, Nengyin Wang and team won the Gold Award / Runner-up Prize (Shanghai Region) at the same competition
- 🔬 In August, Dr. Chen Shao received the NSFC Young Scientists Fund
- 🔬 In August, Dr. Chao Song received the NSFC Young Scientists Fund
- 🪪 In May, Dr. Zhiling Zhou awarded the Outstanding Graduate of Shanghai
- 🪪 In March, Dr. Zhiling Zhou’s dissertation selected as a Tongji University Excellent Doctoral Dissertation
- 📝 In October, Our review article on nonlocal and non-Hermitian acoustic metasurfaces has been published in Reports on Progress in Physics
- 📝 In March, Zhiling Zhou and Bin Jia’s research on chiral metasurfaces has been published in Physical Review Letters
- 📝 In March, Nengyin Wang and Dr. Sibo Huang’s research on metamaterial silencers has been published in International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing