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Ootani Lab
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The lab searches for rare muon decays to probe the ultimate laws of elementary particles.
AboutAbout the lab
Toward the ultimate fundamental laws, with accelerators and detectors
The Ootani Lab conducts experimental particle physics using particle accelerators and advanced detectors.
It aims to elucidate the ultimate fundamental laws that provide a unified understanding of matter, forces, and spacetime.
The lab participates in international collaborative experiments at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in Switzerland that precisely study the decays of muons and pions.
It aims to train experimental physics researchers who can handle a wide range of work, from detector development to physics analysis.
Key terms
- Muon
- An elementary particle in the same family as the electron, but heavier. It decays into particles such as electrons within a short time.
- Lepton flavor
- The type of lepton: electron, muon, or tau. It is almost conserved in the Standard Model.
- Pion
- A particle made of a quark and an antiquark. It decays into particles such as muons and electrons.
NewsLab news
A master's student received the Excellence Award at the 14th High Energy Physics Spring School 2026
A doctoral student received the 16th Detector Development Outstanding Master's Thesis Award
The MEG II experiment reported its latest results of the μ→eγ search
ResearchResearch themes
Aiming to elucidate the ultimate fundamental laws that provide a unified understanding of matter, forces, and spacetime, the lab conducts particle physics experiments using particle accelerators and advanced detectors. It carries out precision searches for muon and pion decays and develops detectors for a next-generation electron-positron collider.
*Illustrative imageMEG II Experiment
This international collaborative experiment searches for μ→eγ, a rare muon decay that violates lepton flavor, with the highest sensitivity in the world. Using the most intense muon beam in the world at PSI in Switzerland and uniquely developed detectors, it tests supersymmetric grand unified theories. Many of the main detectors were proposed and developed by this research group.
*Illustrative imageNext-Generation μ→eγ Search Experiment
The lab is conducting research and development for a future experiment that will search for μ→eγ with sensitivity far exceeding that of MEG II. The experiment will use HIMB, a muon beamline planned at PSI with about 100 times the intensity of conventional beamlines. The lab is working on the development of an innovative photon detector.
*Illustrative imagePIONEER Experiment
Using the most intense pion beam in the world at PSI, this experiment measures pion decays with unprecedented precision to test lepton flavor universality. Building on the liquid xenon detector technology developed in MEG and MEG II, the lab is developing a calorimeter.
*Illustrative imageInternational Linear Collider (ILC) Project
This next-generation project collides electrons and positrons in a linear accelerator to probe the origin of matter and the mysteries of the creation of the universe. This research group is developing ILC detectors through international collaboration, focusing on the high-granularity scintillator calorimeter, a key component of the detector.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Ootani Lab are staff, doctoral students, and master's students.As of 2026
- ProfessorWataru OotaniPublications ↗
- Assistant ProfessorToshiyuki IwamotoPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorSei BanPublications ↗
- Project Assistant ProfessorAtsushi Oya
- Project Assistant ProfessorKensuke Yamamoto
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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: “Luftbild PSI Mai 2016” PSI / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- MEG II Experiment: “SiPM IRST” GLevi / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Next-Generation μ→eγ Search Experiment: “Silicon pixel detector-IMG 5766” Rama / CC BY-SA 3.0 fr (cropped)
- PIONEER Experiment: “PSI Luftbild 20220630” Paul Scherrer Institute / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- International Linear Collider (ILC) Project: “ILC SchemeTDR” ILC Comms / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
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