Abstract of the Commemorative lecture
Half Century’s Journey in Research: Applying Physics for the Benefit of Society
I was born in Tokyo in 1922, the fourth son of a scientist of basic medicine. I don't know why, but it seems like I was a born scientist. As a boy, I would enjoy listening to my father's stories about science, and some of them still live fresh in my memory. I spent my elementary through high school days at Gakushuin. By the time I made it to the Faculty of Science of the University of Tokyo, World War II was in its closing days, and I had an opportunity to learn about microwaves as I measured the radar of the US Air Force during an air raid. This was the beginning of my life - long research into light.
Over the fifty years since then, I have moved my work from one research institute to another, in Japan and overseas, almost every ten years. My first 20 year career as a researcher was at the University of Tokyo's laboratory on atomic nuclei, where I was assigned to work on large cyclotron oscillators that employed the same principle as the microwave. While engaged in the development of electronics for measurement there, I developed a growing interest in seeing with my own eyes the electronics being developed in the United States, which at that time was the world leader. I decided to go to the States, a journey that, in retrospect, signaled a great leap in my career. Following my work at two other institutions, I had the privilege of getting to know Mr. John Galt, then head of the research arm of Bell Laboratories, and in 1966 he asked me if I would be interested in doing semiconductor laser research. This unexpected offer raised the curtain on the latter half of my career. I quit my position at the University of Tokyo to become a regular researcher at Bell Laboratories.
Heartened by Mr. Galt's remark that if semiconductor lasers could operate continuously at room temperature - a feat theretofore believed impossible - it would have a considerable impact on communications technology, I began working in conjunction with Dr. Morton B. Panish. As we groped about together in the dark, I happened upon an ideal hetero junction in a crystal that Dr. Panish had created. This was to pave the way to achieving the continuous operation of semiconductor lasers at room temperature on June 1, 1970.
With this accomplished, I decided to return home to assume a position as a fellow at NEC Laboratories, where I plunged into practical uses for lasers. Sheer devotion on the part of young determined researchers led to a solution to what had once seemed a blind - alley pursuit. In the 1970s, these long - term efforts culminated in the development of many types of equipment employing applied optics, ranging from optical communications to compact disc players. And advances in the application of optics are far from having run their course: the most promising still lie in the future, which I believe will take the form of complex equipment that marries optics with electrons.
