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Shirakawa Lab
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The lab pioneers new methods and new materials for next-generation lasers.
AboutAbout the lab
Pioneering methods and materials for next-generation lasers.
The Shirakawa Lab conducts fundamental research and development of lasers.
The lab pioneers new methods, new functions, and new materials for next-generation lasers, working toward higher power, shorter pulses, and higher functionality.
The lab's three key research topics are fiber lasers, ceramic lasers, and phase-locked lasers.
To join this lab, undergraduates enter the Optical Engineering Program in Category III, and graduate students enter the Department of Engineering Science.
Key terms
- Fiber laser
- A laser that uses optical fiber. The lab designs and develops fibers with special structures that control the electric field.
- Ceramic laser
- A laser that uses ceramic materials such as Y2O3. The lab works with femtosecond-scale short light pulses.
- Phase locking
- A method of aligning the phases of multiple lasers to combine their beams. The direction and pattern of the output beam can also be controlled.
ResearchResearch themes
The lab aims to develop next-generation lasers that take the various new lasers created at the Institute for Laser Science even further through original ideas. Its research themes are wide-ranging, and its three key topics are fiber lasers, ceramic lasers, and phase-locked lasers.
*Illustrative imageFiber lasers with controlled electric fields
The lab designs and develops fibers whose electric field is controlled by special structures such as photonic bandgaps and multiple cores, and studies fiber lasers with new properties. It explores lasers at new wavelengths, large pulse energy, and high-power single-frequency operation.
*Illustrative imageHigh-power ultrashort pulse lasers
The lab researches and develops highly efficient diode-pumped femtosecond oscillators and amplifiers. It explores femtosecond ceramic lasers that use ceramic materials such as Y2O3, as well as light sources with high average power and high energy that combine the strengths of fiber lasers and solid-state lasers.
*Illustrative imageSearch for new solid-state laser materials
To make ultrashort pulse lasers produce even shorter pulses, the lab searches for new broadband gain media. It broadens the gain spectrum by combining different gain media, and develops new disordered crystal materials, in which the active ions are arranged randomly and which have broad emission spectra. It evaluates their basic properties and applies them to lasers.
*Illustrative imageWavelength conversion
The lab studies highly efficient, high-power wavelength conversion, including Stokes light generation with fiber Raman lasers, supercontinuum (white light) generation with highly nonlinear fibers, and second-harmonic generation using periodically poled nonlinear optical crystals.
MembersFaculty
The Shirakawa Lab consists of faculty, doctoral students (working professionals), master's students, undergraduate students, and research students.As of 2025
- ProfessorAkira Shirakawa
VoicesStudent voices
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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: “Laser Towards Milky Ways Centre” ESO/Yuri Beletsky (ybialets at eso.org) / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Fiber lasers with controlled electric fields: “Photonic-crystal fiber” Разумовский Алексей Сергеевич Наний Олег Евгеньевич / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- High-power ultrashort pulse lasers: “Femtosecond Pulse Laser at Cornell University” paul_houle / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Search for new solid-state laser materials: “Powerlite NdYAG” Kkmurray / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Wavelength conversion: “Supercontinuum in a microstructured optical fiber” Blinking Spirit, and Dimitris Papadopoulos / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Furukawa Lab): “Fiber-optic sensor” Lena.lemon / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Minoshima Lab): “Femtosecond laser” Mina.ashrafzade / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Nayak Lab): “How Atoms Are Defying Gravity in NASA's Cold Atom Lab (SVS31389)” NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio - Global Science and Technology, Inc./Amy Moran / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Hirata Lab): “Fluorescent dye” Swastipandey / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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