【Research Area 】　Area of Functional Physics and Chemistry (Number of Faculty: 32)

Name	English Name	Position	Research Field	Department in the Master's Course
青木 良夫	Aoki, Yoshio	Associate Professor (Molecular Analysis and Life Science Center)	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Chemistry of optically active compounds and liquid crystals. Research on the manipulation of optically active compounds and their application. In the area of applications, especially the synthesis of liquid crystals with chiral structure and investigation of their helical twisting power and ferroelectricity.
千原 貞次	Chihara, Teiji	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Halide cluster catalysts. Finding conditions under which halide clusters, [Mo6Cl8]Cl6 is a typical example, work as catalysts and characterizing their properties as catalysts. We have confirmed their potential as platinum substitutes and their proton (Bronsted) acidity as solids.
幡野 健	Hatano, Ken	Lecturer	Functional Biological Molecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Development of substances that inhibit pathogenic organisms by constructing carbohydrate cluster compounds through integration of functional carbohydrates at the periphery of dendritic molecules containing silicone branching points. Also, research on silicone bridgehead containing compounds and silicone-heavier element heteroatom hybrid polymers.
平塚 信之	Hiratsuka, Nobuyuki	Professor	Quantum Physics	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Research on development and evaluation of materials, such as high frequency oxide magnetic materials that can be used in the GHz range and materials that are both ferromagnetic and ferroelectric, etc. Furthermore, research on room-temperature ferromagnetic pyrolytic carbon, giant magneto-resistant materials, and thermoelectric materials, as novel materials for electronic applications.
廣瀬 卓司	Hirose, Takuji	Professor	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Organic chemistry, organic materials chemistry, coordination chemistry. In organic chemistry, mainly chiral chemistry, and there in particular the development of chiral sensing agents and the elucidation of optical resolution. In organic materials chemistry, synthesis of liquid crystalline materials and exploitation of macromolecular substances. In coordination chemistry, photoreactions and sensor molecules.
本間 俊司	Homma, Shunji	Associate Professor	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Numerical fluid dynamics, numerical studies of transport phenomena, nuclear chemical engineering. Numerical analysis of free boundary flows in jets and droplets. Numerical analysis of boundary transport phenomena. Research on spent fuel reprocessing.
本田 善太郎
伏見 譲	Husimi, Yuzuru	Professor	Functional Biological Molecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Molecular biophysics, evolutionary molecular engineering. Clarification of the principles of the emergence of functionality in fast molecular evolution as it is carried out in the laboratory and the actual creation of highly functional biological macromolecules. Wetware artificial life. Physics of the origin of biological information. Development of a fast DNA sequencer.
石丸 雄大	Ishimaru, Yoshihiro	Associate Professor	Functional Biomolecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: The main theme is investigation of supramolecule chemistry. Construction, using cyclodextrin, of molecular devices functioning in water and research concerning the synthesis and properties of cyclic compounds based on pyrrole.
柿崎 浩一	Kakizaki, Koichi	Associate Professor	Quantum Physics	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Magnetic materials engineering. Research on FePt granular thin film media, which may have applications in the next generation of high density memory devices; hexagonal M-type ferrite thin film media and granular type MR sensor thin films.
鎌田 憲彦	Kamata, Norihiko	Professor	Quantum Physics	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Optical quantum physics of low dimensional systems and application to light emitting and light receiving devices. Manufacture of quantum well light emitting elements and evaluation of non-radiative recombination energy by two-wavelength excited photoluminescence, organic thin-film EL, light receptor and image sensor elements, glass sealed hybrid luminescent objects, etc.
加藤 礼三	Kato, Reizo	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Molecular physical chemistry. I am using methods of synthetic chemistry and physics to develop functional materials, in particular novel electrical conductors and superconductors, where the underlying ‘molecules’ range widely from purely organic ones to such that contain transition metals.
古閑 二郎	Koga, Jiro	Professor	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Dynamics and rheology of polymers, dynamics of phase transitions, numerical fluid dynamics, nuclear chemical engineering.
久保 由治	Kubo, Yuji	Associate Professor	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: Synthetic organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry. Research on innovative design of highly functional compounds that can not be realized as single-molecule systems by design of molecular interactions based on advance structural prediction. As concrete applications I am proposing molecular programming and self-assembling molecular sensors.
松岡 浩司	Matsuoka, Koji	Associate Professor	Functional Biological Molecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Synthetic organic chemistry, glycotechnology, synthesis of functional molecules based on sugar chains. Development of effective and simple methods for synthesizing saccharide clusters by combining methods from synthetic organic chemistry and biochemistry.
中林 誠一郎	Nakabayashi, Seiichiro	Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Physical chemistry. Structure of and reactions at the solid-fluid boundary. Research on the physico-chemical processes peculiar to the solid-fluid interface, including the electrochemical system, using laser, the nuclear force microscope, and superconducting magnets. Science of nonlinear phenomena: Simulation of biological neural circuits by nonlinear electro-chemical oscillators.
中原 弘雄	Nakahara, Hiroo	Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Chemistry of oriented molecule ensembles. I am using conditions at the boundary, to make ensembles of various functional amphiphilic molecules with differing organization as to molecular orientation and charge state, and by relating the mechanism of their peculiar functional behavior to their nano-structure, investigate the effect of molecular alignment on their reactivity and properties.
西垣 功一	Nishigaki, Koichi	Professor	Functional Biological Molecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Molecular biophysics (genomics), molecular biotechnology (molecular evolutionary engineering). I am concentrating on the genome in order to understand the complex and subtle system of the living organism. As one can say that the genome is the ultimate information system honed by biological evolution, the aim is to understand what it is and how it comes about that it works as an information system. The research also includes methodological questions and applications (molecular evolutionary engineering).
坂口 喜生	Sakaguchi, Yoshio	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Photochemistry, spin chemistry. Research on the effects of static and oscillating magnetic and electric fields on chemical reactions, and the application of those effects in analyzing reaction pathways. Recently, I am using these methods to investigate light emission of organic EL materials.
酒井 正道	Sakai, Masamichi	Associate Professor	Quantum physics	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Solid state electron physics, quantum device engineering. I am investigating questions arising in the context of hydrogen mediated electron transport in metals from the viewpoints of electromagnetism, conductivity, and far-infrared physics with the goal to improve the efficiency of hydrogen storing materials. We are developing methods that use the non-locality of the micro-optical response in the evaluation of semiconductors.
坂本 章	Sakamoto, Akira	Associate Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Physical chemistry (structural chemistry, molecular spectroscopy). Analysis of the molecular structures and dynamics of functional molecules, unstable molecular species, and short-lived transient molecules, by using conventional and time-resolved infrared and Raman spectroscopy.
白井 肇	Shirai, Hajime	Associate Professor	Quantum Physics	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Research that focuses on the creation of functionality by plasma process thin-film deposition, etching, and surface modification, in order to design and evaluate elements of solar cells, liquid crystal and plasma displays, and optical filters.
鈴木 俊法	Suzuki, Toshinori	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: I try to understand chemical reactions and the accompanying molecular collisions and photo-excitations at the level of electron dynamics and nuclear movement by visualizing the velocity and angular distribution of reaction products through molecular beam scattering experiments and high-level theoretical computations and comparisons. My laboratory also uses shaped femto-second laser pulses to manipulate the quantum state of reactions.
太刀川 達也	Tachikawa, Tatsuya	Lecturer	Organic Materials	Applied Chemistry
Specialty: With the aim to detect radioactivity visually through functional dyes, I am researching the design and synthesis of organic functional molecules, evaluating their structure and properties and try to turn the results into practical devices. I am also using the molecular orbital method to carry out high precision measurements on molecular electronic spectra.
田原 太平	Tahara, Tahei	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Molecular spectroscopy, photochemistry, ultrafast time-resolved spectroscopy. Research, in particular, using ultra-short femto-second pulses to capture molecular nuclear dynamics in real time. Investigation of reaction mechanisms and optical properties of molecules through time-resolved spectroscopy and of the dynamics of heterogeneous molecules through non-linear spectroscopy.
高柳 敏幸	Takayanagi, Toshiyuki	Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Theoretical chemistry, computational chemistry. Research on quantum effects in chemical reactions using a variety of theoretical methods such as quantum chemical simulation. Recently, I have also become interested in the origin of interstellar molecules and solvation electron dynamics.
照沼 太陽	Terunuma, Daiyo	Professor	Functional Biological Molecules	Functional Materials Science
Specialty: Development of substances with novel properties based on the synthesis of organo-silicone compounds. More concretely, the development of verotoxin and dengue fever virus inhibitors through aggregation of functional sugar chains onto carbo-silane dendrimers and the synthesis of polysilanes with side-chains containing liquid-crystal molecules.
上野 啓司	Ueno, Keiji	Associate Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Surface physical chemistry. Dealing with layered substrates and organic molecular crystals, I am mainly interested in the investigation of the structure and the measurement of physical properties of thin films grown under ultrahigh vacuum conditions.
丑田 公規	Ushida, Kiminori	Visiting AssociateProfessor (RIKEN)	Organic Materials	Chemistry
Specialty: Physical chemistry, photochemistry, ultrafast spectroscopy. Search for chemical reactions that may be useful for environmental protection and in waste processing, using the methods of physical chemistry. At the same time, development of novel substances that are biologically compatible and environmental friendly, or have medical applications.
和田 達夫	Wada, Tatsuo	Visiting Professor (RIKEN)	Functional Molecule Studies	Applied Chemistry
Optical and electron physics of conjugate compounds. Research that aims for supra-molecular photonics devices that accomplish image processing through soft optoelectronics using materials with a flexible structure.
若狭 雅信	Wakasa, Masanobu	Professor	Functional Molecule Studies	Chemistry
Specialty: Photochemistry, spin chemistry. Research on the mechanism of the photoreaction of organic and organometallic compounds. Research on magnetic field effects and magnetic isotope enrichment based on the interaction of electron spin with a magnetic field. Chemistry in strong fields up to 30 tesla.