The Optics Valley Square at the entrance of the valley in Wuhan city, central China's Hubei province. (PHOTO: XINHUA)

By LU Zijian

Beginning with a stream of light, China's Optics Valley has evolved into a zone of high-tech innovation through the joint efforts of universities, research institutes, enterprises and government.

Located in central China's Hubei province, Wuhan East Lake High-tech Development Zone, or Optics Valley, is the birthplace of China's first practical optical fiber, and now the world's largest production base of optical fiber and optical cable.

Fiber breakthrough

The first practical optical fiber was invented in 1976 by Zhao Zisen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. With only the most basic materials, Zhao managed to draw the optical fiber after three years of hard work in a laboratory of Wuhan Research Institute of Post and Telecommunications.

With Zhao leading the way, scientists in the Optics Valley gradually achieved technology breakthroughs.

In particular, scientists in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics (WNLO) tackled challenges in brain imaging, solar cells, ultrafast lasers, laser manufacturing, optoelectronic devices and integration and data storage.

An attosecond laser of 2.6 gigawatts was realized via a new mechanism proposed by Lan Pengfei, professor at WNLO. The single pulse energy output still ranks first in the world.

Less than a month ago, the National Center of Technology Innovation for Digital Construction (NCTI-DC) and the National Center of Technology Innovation for Intelligent Design and Numerical Control (NCTI-IDNC) were inaugurated at a conference regarding sci-tech innovation in Hubei province.

The two centers are led by Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) and located in Optics Valley.

Together with other national research platforms, including WNLO, they will offer strategic support to help Optics Valley go global. 

Enterprises playing their role

"70 percent of parts in a smart phone need to be processed by laser. The highest precision of laser processing now reaches one hundredth of a single human hair, and we have offered nearly 20,000 sets of equipment for premium cell phone brands all over the world," said Ma Xinqiang, chairman of HGTECH, the first laser-based hi-tech company to go public in China.

The company was initially a factory affiliated to HUST before it grew into a national high-tech enterprise, and it is a prime example of the collaborative innovation of bringing together enterprises, academia, and research institutes.

With coordinated innovation efforts, a series of key technology breakthroughs were achieved by HGTECH, including fiber laser, ultrafast laser and semiconductor laser diode chips. In 2008, the company delivered its first laser welding equipment for pressure vessels, the first of its kind made by China.

The "start-ups" that emerged when HGTECH was established have also played their part in making the Optics Valley more innovative. Temperature measuring facilities using Infrared imaging were installed in hospitals, train stations and airports in many parts of China. One of the facility suppliers, Guide Infrared, owned world class technologies in terms of cooled infrared detectors.