物理学院由原湖南医科大学、长沙铁道学院及中南工业大学的物理学科及部分电子学科于2002年合并组建而成，原名为物理科学与技术学院，2011年更名为物理与电子学院，2023年更名为物理学院。学院下设应用物理系、光电信息系、超微结构与超快过程研究所、量子物理研究所、大学物理中心和综合办公室。学院坐落于潇湘校区物理大楼。

坚持人才强院战略，师资力量雄厚。学院现有教职工123人，其中专任教师93人，其中教授42人，副教授34人，讲师17人。教师中有国家级人才11人，教育部新世纪优秀人才3人，以及湖南省芙蓉学者特聘教授、湖南省百人计划、湖南省杰出青年基金获得者30余人，科睿唯安高被引科学家4人，爱思唯尔高被引学者5人。拥有湖南省基础物理教学团队。

坚持内涵式发展，学科建设稳步推进。拥有物理学一级学科博士学位授权点，物理学博士后科研流动站，自主设置了电子材料与器件、光电子科学与技术二级学科博士点，与冶金与环境学院等共建新能源与储能工程交叉学科硕士、博士学位授权点，与地球科学与信息物理学院等共建遥感科学与技术交叉学科硕士、博士学位授权点，与电子信息学院等共建电子信息工程博士、专业硕士学位授权点，是首批学科教学(物理)国优计划试点高校。物理学科是湖南省十四五重点学科，2020年7月物理学科进入全球ESI前1%，2021年物理学学位点国际评估为优秀。

创新人才培养模式，培养质量持续提升。学院以立德树人为根本，以学生为中心，以“价值塑造、知识传授、能力培养、智慧启迪”为人才培养理念，加强课程思政建设和创新创业能力培养。学院设有应用物理学(理学)、光电信息科学与工程(工学)2个本科专业，2020年，应用物理学获批国家一流建设专业、光电信息科学与工程获批湖南省一流建设专业。现有全日制在校学生1000多名，其中本科生600多名、研究生500多名。积极开展拔尖创新人才培养探索，从2012年起，开设物理科学班，从2019年起，开设应用物理拔尖人才培养实验班，2020年应用物理学强基班开始招生，2019年应用物理学成为湖南省物理拔尖学生培养基地，2021年，应用物理学获批国家基础学科拔尖学生培养2.0基地。毕业生质量高，就业形势好，本科生就业率超过90%，研究生就业率100%。近三年连续获评中南大学就业工作先进单位。

办学条件不断改善，高水平成果不断涌现。拥有国家工科物理教学基地、国家物理实验教学示范中心、国家虚拟仿真教学中心、大学物理课程国家首批虚拟教研室建设点等4个国家级教学平台，有大学物理、物理实验和固体物理3门国家精品课程(国家网络资源共享课程)，以及大学物理国家双语示范课程，“低温强场下磁性材料的磁特性测试与微观结构表征虚拟仿真实验”、“大学物理B”、“信号与系统”、“电磁学”、“大学物理(线上)”获批国家一流课程。拥有超微结构与超快过程、纳米光子学与器件2个湖南省重点实验室，建有微纳加工与器件制造湖南省教育厅重点实验室，与企业共建纳米银线透明导电薄膜湖南省工程技术研究中心、湖南省微纳光学工程技术研究中心。教学、科研实验室2.0万平方米，各种先进的仪器设备价值超2亿元。学院年均发表高质量论文400多篇，年均进校科研经费超3000万元，年均获得授权专利20余项；获多项省部级教学、科研成果；高水平论文成为新亮点，年均NI指数期刊论文超150篇。

对外交流与合作不断拓展。已与哈佛大学、麻省理工学院、劳伦斯伯克利国家实验室、罗切斯特大学、新加坡国立大学、多伦多大学、澳大利亚国立大学、东京工业大学、德国于利希研究中心、德国拜罗伊特大学、西班牙瓦伦西亚大学、丹麦技术大学、韩国成均馆大学、台湾科技大学、香港中文大学等国(境)外20余所知名高校开展了长期稳定的合作关系。同国内外多所大学建立了交流合作和人才培养关系，每年互访的学者达100余人次。从2010~2024年，学院对口支援新疆大学物理科学与技术学院。物理科学馆获批湖南省、中国物理学会科普教育基地，与人文学院杨雨教授团队合著《物语诗心》科普著作。

弘扬“格物致理，创新笃行”的院训。走人才强院，教学立院，科研兴院，理工结合，特色发展之路，努力把中南大学物理学院建设成为国内一流、国际上有影响的基础学科和优秀人才培养基地。

The School of Physics was established in 2002 through the merger of the physics disciplines and some electronics disciplines from the former Hunan Medical University, Changsha Railway Institute, and Central South University of Technology. It was originally named the School of Physics Science and Technology, renamed the School of Physics and Electronics in 2011, and renamed the School of Physics in 2023. The School consists of the Department of Applied Physics, the Department of Optoelectronic Information, the Institute of Ultra-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, the Institute of Quantum Physics, the University Physics Teaching Center, and the School General Affairs Office. The School is located in the Physics Building on the Xiaoxiang Campus.

Adhering to the strategy of strengthening the School through talent, the faculty is highly qualified. The School currently has 123 faculty and staff members, including 93 full-time teachers: 42 professors, 34 associate professors, and 17 lecturers. Among the teachers, there are 11 national-level talent awardees, 3 New Century Excellent Talents of the Ministry of Education, as well as over 30 recipients of honors including the Hunan Province Furong Scholar Distinguished Professor, the Hunan Province Hundred Talents Program, and the Hunan Province Outstanding Youth Fund. There are 4 Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers and 5 Elsevier Highly Cited Scholars. The School also boasts the Hunan Province Fundamental Physics Teaching Team.

Committed to connotative development, the School has steadily advanced its discipline construction. It offers a first-level doctoral degree program in Physics, a postdoctoral research station in Physics, and has established second-level doctoral degree programs in Electronic Materials and Devices, and Optoelectronic Science and Technology. It jointly offers Master's and Doctoral degree programs in the interdisciplinary field of New Energy and Energy Storage Engineering with the School of Metallurgy and Environment, and programs in Remote Sensing Science and Technology with the School of Geosciences and Info-Physics. It also co-offers Doctoral and professional Master's degree programs in Electronic Information Engineering with the School of Electronic Information. The School is among the first pilot universities for the National Excellence Plan in subject teaching (Physics). Physics is a key discipline of Hunan Province for the 14th Five-Year Plan. In July 2020, the Physics discipline entered the top 1% of ESI globally. In 2021, the Physics degree program was rated as Excellent in the international evaluation.

By innovating talent cultivation models, the School has continuously improved the quality of education. The School adheres to the fundamental task of fostering virtue and nurturing students, with a student-centered approach and a talent cultivation philosophy of "value shaping, knowledge imparting, ability cultivation, and wisdom enlightenment." It strengthens the integration of ideological and political education into courses and the development of innovation and entrepreneurship abilities. The School offers two undergraduate majors: Applied Physics (Science) and Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering (Engineering). In 2020, Applied Physics was approved as a National First-Class Construction Major, and Optoelectronic Information Science and Engineering as a Hunan Province First-Class Construction Major. Currently, the School has over 1,000 full-time enrolled students, including more than 600 undergraduates and over 500 postgraduates. Actively exploring the cultivation of top-notch innovative talents, the School launched a Physics Science Class in 2012, an Applied Physics Top-Talent Cultivation Experimental Class in 2019, and began enrolling students in the Applied Physics Strengthened Basic Disciplines Class in 2020. In 2019, Applied Physics became a Hunan Province Physics Top-Talent Cultivation Base. In 2021, Applied Physics was approved as a National Basic Disciplines Top-Talent Student Cultivation 2.0 Base. Graduates are of high quality and enjoy good employment prospects, with an undergraduate employment rate exceeding 90% and a graduate employment rate of 100%. For three consecutive years, the School has been rated as an Advanced Unit for Employment Work at Central South University.

Vigorously strengthening platform construction, the School's educational conditions have been continuously improved and high-level achievements emerge in abundance. It has four national-level teaching platforms: the National Engineering Physics Teaching Base, the National Physics Experimental Teaching Demonstration Center, the National Virtual Simulation Teaching Center, and one of the first Virtual Teaching and Research Centers for University Physics Courses. It has three National Excellent Courses (National Online Resource-sharing Courses): University Physics, Physics Experiment, and Solid State Physics, as well as the National Bilingual Demonstration Course in University Physics. The following have been approved as national first-class courses: "Virtual Simulation Experiment on Magnetic Property Testing and Microstructure Characterization of Magnetic Materials under Low Temperature and High Magnetic Field", "University Physics B", "Signals and Systems", "Electromagnetism", and "University Physics (Online)". The School has two Hunan Province Key Laboratories: the Laboratory for Ultra-microstructure and Ultrafast Processes, and the Laboratory for Nanophotonics and Devices. It also hosts the Micro-nano Fabrication and Device Manufacturing Key Laboratory of Hunan Provincial Department of Education. In collaboration with enterprises, it has established the Hunan Province Silver Nanowire Transparent Conductive Film Engineering Technology Research Center and the Hunan Province Micro-nano Optics Engineering Technology Research Center. Teaching and research laboratories cover 20,000 square meters, with advanced instruments and equipment worth over 200 million RMB. The School publishes an average of over 400 high-quality papers per year, secures annual research funding of over 30 million RMB, and obtains over 20 authorized patents annually. The School has received numerous provincial and ministerial level teaching and research achievements. High-level papers have become a new highlight, with an annual average of over 150 NI-index journal papers.

The degree of internationalization in education continues to rise, with expanding foreign exchanges and cooperation. The School has established collaborative relationships with more than 20 renowned universities abroad, including Harvard University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of Rochester, National University of Singapore, University of Toronto, Australian National University, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Jülich Research Centre in Germany, University of Bayreuth, University of Valencia in Spain, Technical University of Denmark, Sungkyunkwan University in South Korea, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong. The School has established exchange and talent cultivation partnerships with many domestic and international universities, with over 100 scholar visits each year. From 2010 to 2024, the School provided targeted support to the School of Physics Science and Technology at Xinjiang University. The Physics Science Museum has been approved as a Science Popularization Base by Hunan Province and the Chinese Physical Society. The School co-authored the popular science book Stories of Physics and Poetry with Professor Yang Yu's team from the School of Humanities.

Carrying forward the School motto: "Investigate phenomena to attain principles, innovate and act with dedication." The School pursues a path of strengthening through talent, establishing through teaching, prospering through research, integrating science and engineering, and developing with distinctive features, striving to build the School of Physics of Central South University into a first-class domestic and internationally influential basic discipline and excellence talent cultivation base.