二十世紀初頭に量子力学や相対論を生み出すきっかけを 作ったのは光でしたが、現在ではレーザーや電子ビーム により高度に制御された多彩な光の発生が可能になり、 物性研究において活躍しています。超高速現象を捉える ための短パルス光はフェムト(10-15)秒からアト秒 (10-18)領域へと踏み込み、レーザーベースで発生できる 波長範囲も可視域だけでなく、テラヘルツ(<1 meV)や 軟X線領域(>100 eV)へと拡大しています。当研究部門 では、これら極限的な光を発生させる技術を開発すると ともに、各種の分光計測法を開発して、超伝導体、強相関 系物質、生体物質、半導体ナノ構造、固体表面界面、光誘起 相転移物質などに適用し、幅広く物性研究を展開してい ます。
Understanding the nature of light played an important role in establishing the theories of relativity and quantum mechanics at the beginning of the 20th century. These two theories have not only founded modern physics but have also been crucial to the development of modern optical technologies such as synchrotron radiation and lasers. Since then, these new technologies have enabled the rapid pace of innovations to be maintained. It is now possible to produce extremely short bursts of light with femtosecond (10-15 sec) and attosecond (10-18 sec) time scales. The range of available spectral windows of laser-based light sources has also expanded significantly, and now ranges from terahertz frequencies(<meV) to soft X rays (>100 eV). At the Division of Advanced Spectroscopy at ISSP, we are developing extreme light sources and various spectroscopic techniques to explore wide ranges of novel materials and phenomena including high-Tc superconductors, strongly correlated materials, photo induced phase transitions, biological molecules, solid surfaces/interfaces, and semiconductor nanostructures.