Jian Zhang, Research Professor, Director of the Transparent Ceramics Research Center and Group Leader of the Oxide Transparent Ceramics Research Group at the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICAS). He obtained his doctoral degree from SICAS in 2005, conducted research at the University of Leeds (UK) and Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) from 2007 to 2012, and returned to China in 2012. His research focuses on the fabrication of advanced ceramic materials such as garnet, spinel, cordierite and sesquioxides, as well as their applications in solid-state lasers, optical windows, medical imaging and so on. He and his team have realized the preparation of large-size/complex-shaped YAG, MgAl₂O₄, AlON and Y₂O₃ transparent ceramics with high optical quality. Among them, the size of the developed YAG transparent ceramic reaches 1220 mm×830 mm, ranking the largest known transparent ceramic worldwide. In the field of laser ceramics, he realized laser output of Yb:LuAG for the first time internationally. The developed Nd:YAG laser ceramics provide key support for 100 J-class high-repetition-rate and high-energy solid-state lasers.

Research Interests

1. Preparation of YAG, MgAl₂O₄, AlON, Y₂O₃ and Lu₂O₃ transparent ceramics with large size and complex shape.

2. Ceramics processing science and technology, especially high purity powder synthesis, colloidal based forming method, and ceramic sintering.

3. 3D printing for transparent ceramic and advanced oxide ceramic.

Recent Selected Publications

1. Pengxian Hui, Haohao Ji*, Ye Ge, Jin Zhao, Wenlong Liu, Shiwei Wang, Dianzi Liu*, Jian Zhang*, Material extrusion of low-thermal-expansion cordierite ceramics: Process optimization and performance evaluation by data-driven technique, Materials & Design, 2026, 265: 115993.

2. Xinyu Li, Haohao Ji*, Yuhan Yang, Dewen Wang, Jie Ma, Shiwei Wang, Jian Zhang*, Fabrication of Nd: YAG Laser Ceramics via Fused Deposition Modeling, Journal of the American Ceramic Society, 2026, 109: e70682.

3. Haoming Luo, Dan Han, Jian Zhang*, Shiwei Wang, Peng Liu, Influence of YOF on the preparation and optical quality of MgAl₂O₄ transparent ceramics, Journal of the European Ceramic Society, 2024, 44: 4216.

4. Dewen Wang, Junping Wang, Houcheng Yuan*, Zhang Liu, Jin Zhou, Jiajie Deng, Xin Wang, Benhua Wu, Jian Zhang*, Metre-scale Y₃Al₅O₁₂ (YAG) Transparent Ceramics by Vacuum Reactive Sintering, Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2023, 38: 1483.

5. Haohao Ji, Jin Zhao, Jie Chen, Shunzo Shimai, Jian Zhang*, Yu Liu*, Dianzi Liu*, Shiwei Wang, A novel experimental approach to quantitatively evaluate the printability of inks in 3D printing using two criteria, Additive Manufacturing, 2022, 55: 102846.