• One of the important challenges in the development of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) reinforced ceramic composites is uniform dispersion of CNTs in the matrix. The mechanical properties of CNT/ceramics composites have been limited to date due to the formation of CNT agglomerates in the composite. We have successfully produced CNT/alumina composites with world top class strength and toughness, by employing a newly developed CNTs dispersion technique based on a flocculation method. The processing method developed in this study enables us to prepare high performance CNT materials using a pressureless sintering method.

The possible applications of the CNT/alumina composites developed in this study include tribological materials (ball bearing), biomaterials (artificial hip joint), micro-actuator materials utilizing electrostrictive effects, electromagnetic wave absorber, particularly in the frequency range of several GHz and several ten GHz.

• The main research subject of our group is developing material purification methods, crystal growth methods and detector fabrication technologies for compound semiconductor radiation detectors. Our group intensely studies a compound semiconductor, thallium bromide (TlBr), for fabrication of gamma-ray detectors for the advanced radiation applications. The attractive physical properties of TlBr lie in its high atomic number (Tl: 81, Br: 35), high density (7.56 g/cm3) and wide bandgap (2.68 eV). Due to the high atomic number and high density, TlBr exhibits high photon stopping power. The wide bandgap of TlBr permits the device low-noise operation at and above room temperatures.

Our group focuses on development of compound semiconductor radiation detectors for advanced radiation applications including ultra-high resolution PET systems, ultra-high resolution SPECT systems, photon counting CT systems and Compton cameras. We hope to conduct collaborative research with a willing company for a practical application of this technology in industry.

• The main research subject of our group is developing material purification methods, crystal growth methods and detector fabrication technologies for compound semiconductor radiation detectors. Our group intensely studies a compound semiconductor, thallium bromide (TlBr), for fabrication of gamma-ray detectors for the advanced radiation applications. The attractive physical properties of TlBr lie in its high atomic number (Tl: 81, Br: 35), high density (7.56 g/cm3) and wide bandgap (2.68 eV). Due to the high atomic number and high density, TlBr exhibits high photon stopping power. The wide bandgap of TlBr permits the device low-noise operation at and above room temperatures.

Our group focuses on development of compound semiconductor radiation detectors for advanced radiation applications including ultra-high resolution PET systems, ultra-high resolution SPECT systems, photon counting CT systems and Compton cameras. We hope to conduct collaborative research with a willing company for a practical application of this technology in industry.

• Properties of matter, such as reactivity and functionality, are determined by the motion of the constituent electrons. For this reason we aim at developing new spectroscopic methods, by using electron Compton scattering, that would visualize the electron motion for stable species and most importantly the change of electron motion in transient species, which is the driving force behind any chemical reactions;
• (1) development of molecular frame electron momentum spectroscopy for momentum-space imaging of molecular orbitals in the three-dimensional form,
• (2) developments of multiparameter coincidence techniques for studies on stereo-dynamics in electron-molecule collisions,
• (3) development of time-resolved electron momentum spectroscopy for visualization of the change of electron motion in transient species.
• We hope to conduct collaborative research with a willing company for a practical application of this technology in industry, and we are also prepared to provide academic consultations to companies interested in our research.

• In order to solve the energy and environmental problems, the development of the high-functional and high-performance materials is required in a wide variety of research fields such as fuel cell, Li-ion battery, tribology etc. Especially, the recent material technologies constitute of multi-physics and multi-scale phenomena including chemical reaction, friction, impact, stress, fluid, photon, electron, heat, electric and magnetic fields etc. on nano- and macro-scales. Therefore, Kubo laboratory is pioneering the development of multi-physics and multi-scale simulator on the basis of quantum chemistry and is utilizing supercomputers "Fugaku" and "MASAMUNE-IMR" for realizing the theoretical material design with high-accuracy.

We utilize our developed multi-physics and multi-scale simulation technology on the basis of quantum chemistry for acceelerating the material development in a wide variety of private companies of automotive, machinery, power, electronics, material, metal, chemistry etc. and then contribute to solving the energy and environmental problems.

• Our research aims at developing methods, including instrumentation, for characterizing surface (or interface) at the nano-meter level. Most of our research subjects are related to the surface forces measurement, which can directly monitor the interaction between two surfaces. We study phenomena occurring at the solid-liquid interface such as adsorption and structuring of liquids. We have developed the resonance shear measurement which is a sensitive method for evaluating properties of confined liquid for nano-rheology and tribology. Twin-path surface forces apparatus we developed enabled us to study wide variety of samples such as metals, ceramics and plastics.

These methods are applicable for characterizing lubricants, nano-materials, paints, sealants, and cosmetics. We hope to conduct collaborative research with a willing company for a practical application of this technology in industry.