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Yanai Lab
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The lab uses the power of molecules and light to create new materials and functions.
AboutAbout the lab
Creating functions only we can make, with molecules and light
The Yanai Lab uses the power of "molecules" and "light" to realize new materials and functions that bring innovation to energy, the environment, medicine, and quantum information science.
Built on three pillars, photon upconversion (changing the wavelength of light), nuclear hyperpolarization (boosting the sensitivity of NMR and MRI), and molecular quantum sensing, the lab pursues research that integrates different fields.
Students gain the skills to synthesize new molecules and to evaluate their optical and spin properties. Through domestic and international collaborations, they can also take part in ultrafast spectroscopy, computational science, and biology using cells.
Students from other universities are welcome to join, and the lab accepts lab visits online as well as in person.
Key terms
- Photon upconversion
- Converting lower-energy, longer-wavelength light into higher-energy, shorter-wavelength light
- Nuclear hyperpolarization
- Aligning the spin directions of atomic nuclei to a large degree, making NMR and MRI signals many times stronger
- Qubit
- The smallest unit for representing information using quantum properties. Here, molecules play that role
NewsLab news
Paper on a polymer monolith that converts visible light to ultraviolet light published in Angew. Chem. Int. Ed.
Paper on a MOF that converts visible light to ultraviolet light published in JACS Au
Paper on a molecular quantum sensor that works inside living cells, from a collaboration with QST, published in Science Advances
Recruiting PhD students for a double degree program with the University of Manchester
ResearchResearch themes
With an eye toward eventual practical application and solving social problems, the lab conducts research that creates new functions based on the development of original materials. With "molecules" and "light" as shared keywords, it works on three themes, quantum sensing, nuclear hyperpolarization, and upconversion, as well as on combining them.
*Illustrative imageQuantum Sensing and Control
The lab aims for "quantum life chemistry," which uses chemistry to give molecules quantum properties and applies them to understand and control biological phenomena. In collaborative work, it has demonstrated a molecular nanosensor that measures temperature inside living cells, and it is now working on the "Quantum Nose," which combines metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) with molecular qubits to sense chemical substances.
*Illustrative imageMaking NMR and MRI Highly Sensitive with Nuclear Hyperpolarization
NMR and MRI have the drawback of very low sensitivity. By combining materials chemistry with a method that uses the photoexcited triplet states of molecules (triplet-DNP), the lab is creating nanomaterials that enable highly sensitive detection of water and biomolecules at room temperature, as well as new polarization sources.
*Illustrative imageUpconversion: Changing the Color of Light
The lab develops materials that can efficiently upconvert even weak light such as sunlight. Recently, it has also been putting effort into developing new molecules that enable conversion at difficult wavelengths, such as dyes that convert visible light to ultraviolet light.
MembersFaculty
The members of the Yanai Lab consist of faculty, postdoctoral researchers, doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students, interns, research support staff, secretaries, and international students.As of 2026
- ProfessorNobuhiro YanaiPublications ↗
- Associate ProfessorShohei TashiroPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorTakuya ShimajiriPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorMiku Oi
- Project Assistant ProfessorKoki NishimuraPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorMasanori UjiPublications ↗
VoicesStudent voices
Compiled from answers by students who were in the lab. Ratings and reviews reflect individual students' experiences, not the lab's official views.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
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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: “Pentacene molecule spacefill from xtal” Jynto (more from this user) / CC0 (cropped)
- Quantum Sensing and Control: “Pentacene” Northfox at en.wikipedia / Public domain (cropped)
- Making NMR and MRI Highly Sensitive with Nuclear Hyperpolarization: “MRI Brain T2 Axial (18)” 511KeV / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Upconversion: Changing the Color of Light: “View through a transmissive diffraction grating at luminescence of upconverting nanoparticles upon infrared excitation” Ihor Panas / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Yamada Lab): “Potassium ferricyanide and its solution” Leiem / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Isobe Lab): “Carbon nanotube (8,8) 3D ball” Jynto / CC0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Hitosugi Lab): “Silicium-atomes” Guillaume Baffou / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Oguri Lab): “Fluorescense Handful of light” Mateusz Urban / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
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