IOP is the leading research institute in China in condensed matter physics and related fields. Through more than 90 years of development, IOP has become a comprehensive and multi-disciplinary research organization engaged in research on basic and applied physics. Its current research activities concentrate on condensed matter physics, optical physics, atomic and molecular physics, plasma physics, soft matter physics, and condensed matter theory and computation physics. There are 12 laboratories and 8 centers in our research system together with a strong technical support system. In 2017, IOP was officially designated by the Ministry of Science and Technology as the Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics. More Information about IOP can be found at www.iop.cas.cn.

IOP has made many breakthroughs in basic research, e.g., "Ordered and tunable Majorana-zero-mode lattice in naturally strained LiFeAs", "Scaling of the strange-metal scattering in unconventional superconductors", "ScQ cloud quantum computation for generating Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger states of up to 10 qubits", "Surface microstructures of lunar soil returned by chang'e-5 mission reveal an intermediate stage in space weathering process", "Interfacial engineering to achieve an energy density of over 200 Wh kg^-1 in sodium batteries",  and "Developed an extremely low temperature Helium-3 refrigerator". It plays a leading role in many areas, such as superconductors, topological materials, magnetism, etc.

IOP also does well in applied physics. It has been granted 2000+ patents since 1998. Some of these patents have been successfully commercialized, with the most successful examples being the lithium ion battery, the LED-related techniques, and a core composite film for magnetic/nonmagnetic/magnetic multilayer thin films and its usage.

Since 1978, IOP researchers have won 510+ awards, including 8 physics awards of the Third World Academy of Sciences, 1 National Top Award for Science and Technology, 34 National Awards for Natural Sciences, 24 National Awards for Science and Technology Progress, and 9 National Awards for Technological Inventions.

IOP has also undertaken or participated in the construction of some large-scale scientific facilities, such as the Synergetic Extreme Condition User Facility, and two interdisciplinary research centers of Center for Clean Energy and Center for Materials Genome Initiative, in HuaiRou Science City, Beijing; the Center for Ultrafast Physical Sciences, and the China Spallation Neutron Source in DongGuan, Guangdong Province; the Dream Line - Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Shanghai.