Q What is your research theme?
We are developing instruments that enable us to directly observe chemical reactions, so that we can actually see the motion of atoms and molecules in chemical reactions (especially photochemical reactions) directly.
Q What is your research and what attracts you to it?
The time scale for photochemical reactions is said to be from 1 to 100 trillionths of a second, and in order to directly observe these reactions, it is necessary to develop instruments that allow us to see atoms and molecules in 100 trillionths of a second. The development of such instruments and direct observation of chemical reactions are actively conducted in the United States and Europe (especially in Germany and France), but in Japan, my laboratory is leading the world.
Q. Please give a message to students.
We hope that through the experience of rotating both the engineering element (technology) of creating devices and the scientific element (science) of observing and elucidating phenomena such as chemical reactions with the devices that we have created, you will experience the fun of research. Why don’t you join us to elucidate new phenomena that no one has ever seen before?