The Physics branch, founded in 1923, is one of the earliest physics departments in China.

Currently, the Department of Physics (DoP) hosts 2 ministerial research platforms, and 12 provincial, municipal and university-level platforms. DoP currently has about 70 full-time faculties, 400 undergraduate students, 280 master and doctoral students, 15 postdoctoral researchers, as well as 70 engineers and supporting staffs. Recently, DoP has actively recruited top researchers, built advanced education and research platforms, and developed competitive research programs in areas of physics. In the past few years, DoP was ranked top 1% in the renowned ESI ranking in physics.

At present, the department offers post-doctoral research programs in Physics, Ph.D programs (in Physics, Microelectronics and Solid-state Electronics), M.S programs (in Physics, Microelectronics and Solid-state Electronics, Electronics and Communication Engineering, and Materials Engineering), and undergraduate programs (in Physics, and Microelectronics).

Both teaching and research are also supported by national and provincial platforms, such as the Engineering Research Center for Micro/Nano Optoelectronic Materials and Devices of Ministry of Education, the Fujian Key Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials and Applications, the Fujian Semiconductor LED Engineering Research Center, and the Fujian MEMS Engineering Research Center.