Inorganic Structural Chemistry Lab

AboutAbout the lab

Writing functions inside transparent materials with light.

The Inorganic Structural Chemistry Lab uses the interaction between femtosecond pulsed lasers and matter to modify the interior of glass and diamond and add new functions.
At the focus of a laser, extreme environments arise, such as strong electric fields and steep temperature gradients, and the lab investigates from the fundamentals what happens there.
The lab also works on a new forming process for single-crystal materials using direct electric current heating, and on clarifying the mechanisms behind the thermal properties of glass materials.
In addition to synthesis, processing, electron microscopy, and optical characterization, the lab uses first-principles calculations and molecular dynamics calculations together, leading to the development of processing methods and improved material functions.

ResearchResearch themes

The lab studies local modification, with femtosecond lasers, of the interior of inorganic materials that are transparent to the laser wavelength. By combining first-principles and molecular dynamics calculations with material synthesis, processing, and characterization, the lab aims to clarify how material properties emerge, and to apply this to highly efficient, high-resolution processing methods and improved material functions.

*Illustrative image

Observing Shock Waves Inside Crystals↗

When a femtosecond laser is focused inside a solid, the temperature rises abruptly at the focus and a shock wave is generated. The lab devised an observation method called time-resolved polarization microscopy and uses it to study how shock waves cause structural changes.

*Illustrative image

Drawing Nanoscale Stripes in Glass↗

This approach uses interference between the plasma electron wave that the laser generates inside glass and the irradiating light. With a single beam, fine lines with a period of several tens of nanometers can be drawn, giving transparent materials the ability to control spectra and polarization.

*Illustrative image

Reshaping the Beam to Write All at Once↗

Writing structures one point at a time had problems of efficiency and speed. By combining a liquid-crystal spatial light modulator, the lab developed a system that creates a laser beam with a desired intensity distribution and writes a complex pattern in a single shot.

*Illustrative image

Moving Elements Inside Glass with Light↗

Using the local high temperature and high pressure created at the laser focus, the lab can produce uneven distributions of elements inside multicomponent glass. The lab has also succeeded in controlling the shape of these distributions by irradiating multiple points simultaneously with two kinds of lasers with different repetition rates.

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.