LAB LOGA page on LabLog, a review site (not the lab's official page)
Sakai Lab
Machine-translated · View original
The lab explores the birth of stars with radio telescopes and develops its own receivers.
AboutAbout the lab
Uncovering how stars are born, using radio waves.
The Sakai Lab develops receivers for radio telescopes and uses them in observations to study how stars are born.
In particular, the lab aims to clarify how massive stars, which have at least eight times the mass of the Sun, are formed.
The lab not only observes with existing instruments but also mounts instruments it has developed itself on large radio telescopes for observation.
Star-forming sites are cold and cannot be seen in visible light, so the lab studies them by observing radio waves.
Key terms
- Massive star
- A star with at least eight times the mass of the Sun. It ends its life in a supernova explosion
- Molecular cloud
- A tenuous cloud of gas from which stars are born. It contracts under gravity to form stars
- Spectral line
- A line of radio emission produced by molecules and other species. Its intensity shows which molecules are present and in what amounts
- SIS device
- A device based on a superconducting tunnel junction. It is used for radio observations in the millimeter and submillimeter wave bands
NewsLab news
Undergraduate student received a Special Award at the IEICE Junior & Student Poster Session
Master's student received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the master's thesis presentation of the Electronic Engineering Program
Undergraduate student received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the bachelor's thesis presentation of the Class III Electronic Engineering Program
Undergraduate student received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the reading seminar presentation of the Class III Electronic Engineering Program
Master's student received an Outstanding Presentation Award at the master's thesis presentation of the Electronic Engineering Program
ResearchResearch themes
The main goal of this lab is to understand how stars are born. In particular, it aims to clarify the formation process of massive stars, which is still not well understood.
*Illustrative imageClarifying star formation processes through radio observations
Stars are born when tenuous clouds of gas called molecular clouds contract under gravity. Star-forming sites are cold, at about minus 260 degrees Celsius, and cannot be seen in visible light, so the lab investigates them through radio observations.
*Illustrative imageFormation process of massive stars
Stars with at least eight times the mass of the Sun are called massive stars. How they form is still not well understood, and the lab aims to clarify the formation process through spectral line observations of objects before and in the early stages of star formation.
*Illustrative imageExploring the evolution of star formation with spectral lines
The lab observes, at radio wavelengths, the spectral lines emitted by molecules to find out which molecules are present in a molecular cloud and in what amounts. Because the composition changes over time, the lab determines the evolutionary stage from it and compares physical conditions to study how stars are born.
*Illustrative imageDevelopment of receivers for radio telescopes
The lab develops receivers for the ALMA telescope and for the Large Millimeter Telescope in Mexico. It designs SIS devices, fabricates them jointly with the National Astronomical Observatory of Japan and other institutions, and evaluates their performance in the laboratory.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Sakai Lab consist of faculty, and doctoral, master's, and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- ProfessorTakeshi Sakai
VoicesStudent voices
Ratings and reviews reflect the experiences of individual current or former students, not the lab's official views. Whether a lab has reviews, or how many, says nothing about the lab itself.
Students who take part in an interview may receive a thank-you gift worth ¥1,000, regardless of what they say.
Student ratings (0 students)
--
--
--
--
--
--
Student voices answer questions like these
- What's great about this lab?
- What did you learn after joining?
- What's the vibe, and what is the professor like?
- Who is this lab for?
- Where do graduates go?
Your experience can help younger students choose their lab. Your name won't be shown.
Write a lab reviewAnonymous · Your draft is saved if you stopRelatedLabs similar to Sakai Lab
Sakano LabSchool of Informatics and Engineering, Class III (Science and Engineering)Solid-state physics / condensed matter physics / angle-resol…
Ueno LabSchool of Informatics and Engineering, Class III (Science and Engineering)Optical communication systems / optical transistors / optoel…
Kato LabSchool of Informatics and Engineering, Class III (Science and Engineering)Optical frequency combs / optical phased arrays / optical co…
Ohae LabSchool of Informatics and Engineering, Class III (Science and Engineering)Lasers / vacuum ultraviolet / precision spectroscopyThe information on this page is compiled by the LabLog team from the lab's public information and interviews. For corrections or removal requests, please contact LabLog, not the lab.
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: “Mount Pleasant Radio Telescope” Noodle snacks / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Clarifying star formation processes through radio observations: “The Very Large Telescope Snaps a Stellar Nursery and Celebrates Fifteen Years of Operations” ESO / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Formation process of massive stars: “Star-forming Region G” Credit: NASA, ESA, and J. Tan (Chalmers University of Technology); Processing; Gladys Kober (NASA/Catholic University of America) / Public domain (cropped)
- Exploring the evolution of star formation with spectral lines: “Cone Nebula (NGC 2264) Star-Forming Pillar of Gas and Dust” NASA, H. Ford (JHU), G. Illingworth (UCSC/LO), M.Clampin (STScI), G. Hartig (STScI), the ACS Science Team, and ESA The ACS Science Team: H. Ford, G. Illingworth, M. Clampin, G. Hartig, T. Allen, K. Anderson, F. Bartko, N. Benitez, J. Blakeslee, R. Bouwens, T. Broadhurst, R. Brown, C. Burrows, D. Campbell, E. Cheng, N. Cross, P. Feldman, M. Franx, D. Golimowski, C. Gronwall, R. Kimble, J. Krist, M. Lesser, D. Magee, A. Martel, W. J. McCann, G. Meurer, G. Miley, M. Postman, P. Rosati, M. Sirianni, W. Sparks, P. Sullivan, H. Tran, Z. Tsvetanov, R. White, and R. Woodruff. / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Development of receivers for radio telescopes: “Sample radio telescope receiver, )” Science Museum London / Science and Society Picture Library / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Sakano Lab): “CSIRO ScienceImage 2578 Preparing a Protein Crystal sample for Xray” North Sullivan Photography, CSIRO / CC BY 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Ueno Lab): “Propagation of light through the core of an optical fiber. Macro visualization.” AZToshkov / CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Kato Lab): “Frequency Comb ( )” National Institute of Standards and Technology / Public domain (cropped)
- Related lab (Ohae Lab): “Nonlinear Processes” Benjamin Cromey / Public domain (cropped)
About LabLog
LabLog is a lab review app for students only. Student members at each university interview students in labs and publish what they say. Student voices can only be read by students who sign up with a university email address. Operated by bestiee Inc.
Learn more about LabLog ↗Search engines and AI may reference the basic lab info and rating summaries on this page and the description of LabLog. Student voices are for student members only. Automated collection by programs (scraping, or input to or training of AI) is prohibited under Article 8 of the Terms of Service. If you need data for research or analysis, please contact us.