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Ashihara Lab
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The lab uses ultrashort light pulses to observe and manipulate atoms and molecules.
AboutAbout the lab
Designing the electric field of light to control matter
The Ashihara Lab develops methods to measure and control the quantum states of matter using ultrashort-pulse lasers and nano-optics.
Light shakes the electrons and nuclei inside matter with its electric and magnetic fields, which makes it a tool for observing and manipulating the microscopic world.
An ultrashort-pulse laser is a superposition of light at many frequencies, and the phase and polarization at each frequency provide degrees of freedom for measurement and control.
Applications are expected across a wide range, from highly sensitive detection of atoms and molecules and control of chemical reactions and phase transitions, to new principles for ultrafast electronics.
Key terms
- Ultrashort-pulse laser
- A laser that emits light for only about 100 femtoseconds (a time even shorter than a trillionth of a second)
- Vibrational spectroscopy
- A method for investigating molecular structure by using the resonance between light and the characteristic vibrational frequencies of molecules
- Nano-optics
- A field that uses structures on the scale of nanometers to concentrate and manipulate light in very small spaces
NewsLab news
Participated in Komaba Research Campus Open House 2026
A master's student received a Poster Award at the Japan Society of Applied Physics meeting
Published a paper on enhancement of optical chirality in plasmonic near fields
Published a paper on a wavelength-tunable mode-locked laser in the mid-infrared range
ResearchResearch themes
The lab develops methods to measure and control the quantum states of atoms, molecules, and solids, based on ultrashort-pulse lasers and nano-optics, which concentrates light into nanoscale spaces. By creating new optical fields, it aims for ultra-sensitive measurement and precise control that were not possible before.
*Illustrative imageDeveloping infrared ultrashort-pulse lasers
By superposing light of many frequencies, the lab produces extremely short pulses of light lasting femtoseconds. It is developing solid-state lasers that oscillate directly in the infrared, along with techniques that control the amplitude and phase at each frequency to synthesize any desired electric-field waveform.
*Illustrative imageVibrational spectroscopy with infrared lasers
Infrared light resonates with molecular vibrations, so the structure of a molecule can be determined from the wavelengths of the light it absorbs. Taking advantage of the high spatial and temporal coherence of infrared femtosecond lasers, the lab is developing spectroscopic methods that detect molecules with high sensitivity.
*Illustrative imageUltrafast spectroscopy and quantum control
With infrared femtosecond lasers, it is possible to directly capture ultrafast phenomena such as chemical reactions and phase transitions, and even to actively control them. The lab pursues the coherent interaction between infrared light and matter in depth.
*Illustrative imageScience driven by optical electric fields
When light with an electric field strong enough to rival the Coulomb fields inside matter is applied, a strongly nonlinear response appears that follows the instantaneous electric field of the light. Using this phenomenon, the lab is developing detectors of optical electric fields, coherent vacuum-ultraviolet light sources, and methods for analyzing crystal structures.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Ashihara Lab include faculty, researchers, administrative assistants, project specialists, and doctoral and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorSatoshi AshiharaPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorIkki MorichikaPublications ↗
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Femtosecond Laser and Pulse Compressor - Optics Lab - INRIM” Giorgio Brida from Torino, Italy / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Developing infrared ultrashort-pulse lasers: “Ti Sapph YAG supercontinnum” Neath g / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Vibrational spectroscopy with infrared lasers: “Chemical investigations with light” Dinesh.dhankhar / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Ultrafast spectroscopy and quantum control: “Carbon dioxide infrared absorption” ChiralJon / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Science driven by optical electric fields: “HighharmonicGeneration” FedericoVis / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ideguchi Lab): “TiSa laser” Mathieu Perrin / CC BY 2.5 (cropped)
- Related lab (Endo Lab): “Infrared (1064 nm) Laser Beams and Pre-Mode Cleaner” Tobin from Rochester, NY, USA / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ishizaka Lab): “Sample holder in ultrahigh vacuum chamber for angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy” Ponor / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nakamura Lab): “6 Transmon Superconducting Quantum Processor without Cheesing 013” OJB Quantum / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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