29: Chapter 29 Hello everyone, that's truly great!

Listening to the Dean's words, Lin Yuan stood up with a smile.

His movements were natural.

There was no deliberate humility, nor any unnecessary hesitation.

The chair slid back half an inch, making a slight scraping sound that was exceptionally clear in the deathly quiet conference room.

At that moment, everyone's gaze completed its final calibration—

Moving away from Chen Jingshan, they locked in unison onto the young man rising from his seat.

Dozens of gazes converged on a single point, attempting to see right through the young man.

In this first plenary meeting, the Dean hadn't let the directors of the various institutes speak first, nor had he made any macro deployments of the technical roadmap; instead, he had called directly on Lin Yuan.

He was letting the most junior and youngest member be the first to step up and report.

What did this mean?

Everyone present was rapidly calculating the answer to that question in their minds.

The white-haired director of the Institute of Precision Instruments held the temple of his gold-rimmed glasses and silently rotated them half a turn.

The lean, middle-aged man from the Automation Control Institute tightened his crossed arms slightly without realizing it.

Only Wei Jiancheng leaned back against his chair, arms folded, a grin spreading across his face.

He wasn't worried about anything else; he just wanted to see—

What kind of earth-shattering surprise this kid, Lin Yuan, would pull off today.

Lin Yuan walked toward the front, following the curve of the circular conference table. His pace wasn't fast, but every step was steady.

As he passed Chen Jingshan, he turned slightly and nodded in greeting.

“Dean Chen.”

Chen Jingshan returned a gentle nod and actually took half a step aside, completely vacating the central position that represented the core authority!

This gesture caused many hearts to skip a beat once again.

Lin Yuan walked to the front of the projection screen, turned around, and faced the entire conference room.

A room full of titans, dozens of faces.

Some were scrutinizing, some were curious, and some were expressionless.

Lin Yuan was in no hurry to speak.

He scanned the room unhurriedly, taking in everyone's reactions.

Then, he spoke.

“Hello, seniors. I am Lin Yuan.”

His voice was clear and resonant, neither too high nor too low, perfectly filling the conference room.

“Doing a self-introduction here is actually somewhat redundant.”

He paused for a beat, an enigmatic curve appearing at the corner of his lips.

“Because you all have likely learned about me through various channels.”

“An undergraduate from a prestigious university, not yet graduated, who was exceptionally squeezed into the Third Research Institute.”

“Am I right?”

As soon as these words were spoken, a strange ripple of unease spread through the conference room.

Several old experts who had been sitting upright subconsciously coughed and shifted in their seats.

Lin Yuan’s words were too direct.

He didn't cautiously hide or fearfully avoid it; instead, he took the awkward fact that everyone knew but didn't say and threw it onto the table in public!

Sitting in the front row, Wei Jiancheng glanced at Lin Yuan, the curve of his grin widening further.

This kid is starting off with a bang.

Lin Yuan’s gaze swept calmly across the room, taking in all those overt or hidden emotions without the slightest flinch.

“I can even guess what you are all thinking right now.”

“What right does a green youth have to sit in this conference room that represents the highest level of scientific research in Xia Country?”

“What right does he have to be placed on the project task force list ahead of seniors who have dedicated their entire lives to this field?”

“And what right does he have to stand on this stage and give the keynote report for everyone?”

When he said this, his speaking speed was very slow, almost delivering it word by word, striking clearly at everyone's heart.

“It’s normal.”

“If I were in your place, I would also have doubts.”

Lin Yuan spread his hands, being extremely candid.

This level of openness actually left the latent resistance in the room with nowhere to strike.

You want to question him?

He already asked the questions for you.

You want to be unconvinced by him?

He told you to your face that you have every right to feel that way, as it is only human nature.

Lin Yuan paused for two seconds, looking at the stunned and contemplative faces below. A faint glint of success flashed deep in his eyes.

“However.”

His tone didn't change, yet it somehow carried more weight.

“We who work in scientific research share a most basic consensus.”

“Facts speak louder than words.”

“Technology is the primary factor.”

“What is true cannot be made false, and what is false cannot be made true.”

As these sentences landed, the scrutinizing, doubting, and cautious faces in the room showed a subtle softening.

Several old-timers subconsciously nodded.

Regardless of how they viewed Lin Yuan as a person, they could find no fault with these words.

The halls of science were never a place where victories were decided by silver tongues.

If you are capable, you are capable.

If you aren't, no amount of talk will help.

If you can produce results, you are a titan no matter how young you are.

If you cannot, then a lifetime of study is in vain.

Lin Yuan paused slightly, then shifted the conversation toward the main topic.

“So, I won't waste any more words.”

“Since Dean Chen asked me to give a keynote report, I will provide a brief summary for you all.”

“Regarding the new theory for the Light Source System, as Dean Chen mentioned earlier, it has already passed comprehensive verification by the Third Research Institute.”

He glanced in Wei Jiancheng's direction.

“Given that the light source is being led by the Third Research Institute and current progress is very smooth...”

Wei Jiancheng nodded heavily, essentially standing up for him in front of everyone.

“...I will not introduce the light source theory in detail. Comrades from other institutes who come to assist in the R&D of the Light Source System will naturally come into contact with it later.”

In one sentence, Lin Yuan wrapped up the topic of the light source cleanly and decisively.

Then, his focus suddenly shifted.

“What I mainly want to discuss with everyone today is my research on the other two major components.”

As soon as he said this, the atmosphere in the conference room tensed up.

This was the real highlight.

Everyone pricked up their ears, and even their breathing subconsciously slowed.

“First, let's talk about the Objective Lens.”

“The Objective Lens system of a traditional Photolithography Machine, as you all know, is essentially an extremely complex set of refractive optical lenses.”

“Dozens or even hundreds of ultra-high-precision glass lenses are stacked layer upon layer to correct aberrations, chromatic dispersion, and various other optical distortions.”

“The surface accuracy of a single lens is required to be at the sub-nanometer level, and then dozens of such lenses are stacked together—the engineering difficulty of this route is something you all know better than I do.”

He spoke plainly, but the expressions of the precision instrument experts present darkened.

Because this was exactly the hard nut they had been unable to crack for years.

It wasn't that they didn't know how to design it.

It was that our industrial base simply couldn't process it!

If one lens is off by a fraction of a nanometer, and dozens are stacked together, the accumulated error makes the entire objective system scrap metal.

“Therefore, my research direction does not follow this path.”

Lin Yuan’s words were incredibly decisive.

“What I am researching is—the Achromatic Metalens.”

An Achromatic Metalens?

This concept wasn't entirely new; there had been scattered frontier papers discussing it in academic circles.

But those discussions, without exception, remained at the most basic level of theoretical exploration, thousands of miles away from practical application.

And now Lin Yuan was saying he wanted to use this thing in the Objective Lens system of a Photolithography Machine.

The old director of the Institute of Precision Instruments pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose. His lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

The middle-aged backbone beside him had already picked up a pen, hand hovering over his notebook, yet he couldn't write a single word.

Because Lin Yuan gave them no time to react at all.

He directly moved on.

“Next, let's talk about the Dual-Workpiece Stage.”

He shifted the topic extremely fast.

In the conference room, the lean middle-aged man from the Automation Control Institute involuntarily leaned forward half an inch.

“Traditional Dual-Workpiece Stage systems use air bearings combined with linear motor drives, and displacement measurement relies on laser interferometers.”

“This solution is very mature, but it is also approaching its physical limits.”

“To continue pushing positioning accuracy down by improving the existing architecture is very difficult.”

He spoke quickly, laying out the background in a few sentences, and then narrowed his focus.

“Therefore, the research direction I am proposing for the workpiece stage is a Maglev Planar Motor, combined with Atom Interferometer absolute positioning.”

Several more technical terms were thrown out, clean and sharp.

The lean middle-aged man from the Automation Control Institute uncrossed his arms on the table.

He leaned forward two inches, staring at Lin Yuan, his brow furrowed into a tight knot.

He understood Maglev Planar Motors; several domestic teams were working on them, but they were nowhere near the level of being usable in a Photolithography Machine.

And Atom Interferometer absolute positioning?

He had seen this in top international journals; a review paper last year mentioned it in passing, saying it "might be explored for application possibilities within the next ten years."

Explored for application possibilities within the next ten years!

And this young man, standing here, was saying in a tone as casual as reciting a menu that he was already researching it?

The atmosphere in the conference room could no longer be described as just quiet.

It was heavy.

A kind of heaviness where everyone was suppressed by the sheer volume of information, unable to digest it in time, yet unwilling to just sit there doing nothing.

“Due to time constraints, I won't go into the specific theoretical details here.”

Lin Yuan scanned the conference room once more.

“Firstly, the volume of content is too large; I couldn't finish even if I spoke for a whole day.”

“Secondly—”

He paused and smiled.

That smile carried a confidence that seemed to see through everything.

“I would prefer that you seniors judge for yourselves after seeing the theoretical data.”

“After all, no matter how extravagantly I describe it, it doesn't count.”

He leaned forward slightly, his voice falling clearly into everyone's ears.

“Only when you have seen it with your own eyes and say it is good...”

“Then, is it truly good.”