Liu Chao, a researcher, doctoral supervisor, a young scholar in the west of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a member of the Chinese Physical Society, a member of the Chinese Optical engineering Society, and an academic secretary, is mainly engaged in the research work of space laser communication Adaptive optics technology, robust satellite to ground laser communication technology, light field regulation and turbulence correction technology. He has successively led research on multiple projects, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the National Defense Innovation Fund of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the JKW173 Key Fund. 

The beneficial effect of Adaptive optics on atmospheric laser communication was demonstrated theoretically and experimentally, and Adaptive optics system supporting 40000 km satellite to ground laser communication was first developed in China in 2014. It was demonstrated that Adaptive optics technology can significantly  improve the performance of atmospheric laser communication system, and the bit error rate can be improved  by 2-3 orders of magnitude; In 2017, he led the team in developing a receiving aperture Φ 1.8m and an adaptive optics system with 357-units, which was the largest laser communication ground station with the largest aperture and the largest scale of Adaptive optics in the world at that time (2018). In December 2018, the optical ground station established an in-orbit laser link with satellite 20000 km away, breaking through the technology of satellite to ground rapid laser chain building. In 2020, Lijiang station and Geosynchronous orbit satellite SJ-20 achieved the highest communication rate of 10Gbps, which was the world's highest rate for satellite to ground laser communication experiment in orbit at that time (2020). It was tracked and reported by CCTV, Tencent and other media. In 2023, he led the team to work hard to promote satellite-to-ground laser communication to engineering applications.

As a graduate supervisor, he advocates training students in engineering practice and encouraging them to actively explore and solve scientific and technical problems in engineering practice. So far, the trained students have received two national scholarships and one has stayed at the institute to work. More than 30 academic papers and more than 10 patents have been published in mainstream journals both domestically and internationally. He received the Science and Technology Progress Award of Sichuan Province in 2022.