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Matsunaga Lab
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A lab that uses intense terahertz light to bring out new properties of materials.
AboutAbout the lab
Probing materials with light, and transforming them with light.
Matsunaga Lab carries out experimental research in condensed matter optics, using cutting-edge photonics to investigate the properties of materials.
In particular, the lab focuses on light from terahertz waves, which lie between light and radio waves, to the mid-infrared, and develops its own light sources for this purpose.
Through the nonlinear responses that arise in the strong electric field of light, the lab aims to reveal new properties of materials and to use light to change materials into new states.
In condensed matter optics experiments, members sometimes design and build the optical setups they need themselves, depending on the goals of the research.
Key terms
- Terahertz waves
- Electromagnetic waves between light and radio waves, with a higher frequency than the radio waves used by mobile phones and a lower frequency than visible light
- Dirac semimetal
- A material in which electrons behave like massless particles inside a three-dimensional crystal
- Antiferromagnet
- A magnetic material in which neighboring spins point in opposite directions, so that it shows almost no magnetism as a whole
NewsLab news
A doctoral student received the Excellent Paper Presentation Award at the Laser Society of Japan Annual Meeting
A doctoral student received the Best Oral Presentation Award at MORIS 2026
Students received awards including the ISSP Director Award at the ISSP student presentation competition
Doctoral and master's students received the Research Encouragement Award from the Graduate School of Science
A doctoral student received the Young Scientist Presentation Award from the Japan Society of Applied Physics
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to uncover unknown properties of new materials with cutting-edge optical technology, to change materials into new states with light, and to freely control light using materials. Drawing on light-source technology across a wide range of frequencies, including the terahertz band, it is pioneering a new field of research in condensed matter optics.
*Illustrative imageNonlinear Response of Dirac Semimetals
In thin films of Dirac semimetals, in which electrons behave like massless particles, the lab observed terahertz third-harmonic generation at room temperature with an efficiency far exceeding that of graphene. Time-resolved measurements with a custom-built measurement system show that its origin is the acceleration of Dirac electrons.
*Illustrative imageUltrafast Dynamics of Antiferromagnets
Toward next-generation high-speed spintronics, the lab focuses on antiferromagnets whose spins move in the terahertz range. In collaboration with groups such as the Nakatsuji Lab at the Institute for Solid State Physics, it uses terahertz light to study, on ultrafast timescales, the anomalous Hall effect exhibited by materials such as Weyl antiferromagnets.
*Illustrative imageDevelopment of Terahertz Light Technology
In collaboration with other labs at the Institute for Solid State Physics, the lab is developing light sources that produce high-intensity, phase-locked light pulses spanning the terahertz to mid-infrared range, as well as fast terahertz spectroscopy with high frequency resolution.
MembersFaculty
The members of Matsunaga Lab are faculty members, doctoral and master's students, secretaries, and research fellows.As of 2026
- Associate ProfessorRyusuke MatsunagaPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorGo Yumoto
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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: “FZU THz PJachimova 11” Akademie věd České republiky / Czech Academy of Sciences (Pavlína Jáchimová) / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Nonlinear Response of Dirac Semimetals: “Electronic band structure of graphene” Ponor / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Ultrafast Dynamics of Antiferromagnets: “Antiferromagnetic lattice” Evie Aimée Sophie / CC0 (cropped)
- Development of Terahertz Light Technology: “IR Optical Parametric Oscillator” Kkmurray / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
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