He discovered the nonlinear optical crystals BBO, LBO and KBBF, which have important uses in areas including superconductor research, semiconductor photolithography, and the medical industry.

[1] After graduating in 1962, he entered the Fujian Institute of Research on the Structure of Matter in Fuzhou on the recommendation of Hu Ning, and studied under physical chemist Lu Jiaxi for three years.

After researching hundreds of compounds, they discovered potassium beryllium fluoroborate (KBBF), a nonlinear optical crystal which is capable of generating light within a very narrow bandwidth, with wavelengths of less than 200 nanometers.

[3] The crystal is important in superconductor research and can allow the replacement of excimer laser with solid-state ones in photolithography used in the semiconductor and the medical industries.

[3] In 2013, Chen and his colleague Xu Zuyan [zh] invented the DUV-DPL device (deep ultraviolet diode-pumped solid-state laser), with a wavelength of only 177.3 nm.