Xie Sishen, physicist, has been engaged in the study of synthesis, structures, and physical properties of nanomaterials for decades. Xie graduated from the Department of Physics at Peking University, China, in 1965. He received his Ph.D. in 1983 from the Institute of Physics (IOP), Chinese Academy of Sciences. During 1984-1986, he worked as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Colorado University, USA. He is now a professor at IOP.

Prof. Xie has conducted research in several fields of condensed matter physics, including phase diagrams, structures, and properties of rare earth alloys; synthesis, phase relationship, structural determination and properties of High Tc superconductors, and nanoscale materials, especially the carbon nanotube and other one-dimensional materials. He received the first prize of the National Natural Science Awards of China in 1989 for the discovery of High Tc superconductors at liquid nitrogen temperature, the third prize in 1991 for his research on the synthesis, phase relationship, and structure determination of High Tc superconductors, and the second prize for his work on aligned carbon nanotubes.

Project Overview.- Domestic and Foreign Research.- Major Research Achievements.- Outlook.

This book highlights the findings and achievements in the major research plan ¿Detection and Interaction of Single Quantum States¿ funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC). The 8-year plan started in 2011 and consisted of 107 projects conducted by Chinese universities and research institutes. The book covers the plan's research background, achievements, and follow-up prospects. The plan aimed to tackle one of the major challenges for researchers worldwide¿to establish precise detection and control of single quantum states in time, space, energy, and momentum. The plan integrated precise detection means with the ultrahigh resolution of time, space, and energy, under extreme conditions such as ultrahigh vacuum, ultralow temperature, high magnetic field, and ultrahigh pressure, using interdisciplinary research methods in physics, chemistry, informatics, and materials science. The book focuses on the exploration of new phenomena, theories, and concepts of single quantum states, describes new techniques and methods of single quantum states, and presents the purification and construction of single-quantum-state systems. It is a concise and valuable source of information for researchers in quantum science and graduate students interested in the research field.