ISTEC Topics
The 59th Meeting of Japan Society of Applied Physics and Related Societies, "Professor Shoji Tanaka's (First Director General of Superconductivity Research Laboratory) Memorial Symposium", held at Waseda University, March 15th 2012.
Professor Shoji Tanaka (Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Honorary Director General and Advisor to the International Superconductivity Technology Centre), who achieved great success in cultivating the high temperature superconductor research field and leading the development of application technologies, passed away last November. It was just 25 years ago, back in 1987, when the critical temperature of high temperature superconductors exceeded liquid nitrogen temperatures. The superconductivity division of the Japan Society of Applied Physics held a memorial symposium entitled "The past 25 years and the future of research and development of high temperature superconductors - from the night before the discovery, up to current developmental stages of superconducting devices and wires". The symposium was divided into two sessions with two lectures in each session. Lectures in the first session were made by Dr. Koichi Kitazawa (former Executive Director of JST) and Dr. Hideo Ishii (Tokyo Electric Power Company; OB at Tanaka Laboratory in the University of Tokyo), both presented the status of superconductivity at the time when high temperature superconductor was discovered, reminiscing on their memories of Professor Tanaka in his laboratory at the university and his time as a student. Two lectures in the latter half session included one from Dr. Yuh Shiohara (Director of SRL) and Dr. Keiichi Tanabe (Deputy Director of SRL), presenting the progress of research and development of high temperature superconductor which was successfully led by Professor Tanaka at SRL/ISTEC, with several episodes into the explorations of new superconducting materials, superconducting integrated circuits, high quality large-scale single crystal growth, and high temperature superconducting wire development.
Full details of this meeting will appear in Superconductivity Web21 (2012 May issue).
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| Kitazawa(JST) | Ishii(TEPCO) | Tanabe(ISTEC-SRL) | Shiohara(ISTEC-SRL) |
March 1st 2012 Press Conference on "The Development Project relating to the Next Generation Highly-Efficient Network Device Technology"
Research outcomes from a project undertaken mainly by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) in joint collaboration with ISTEC since 2007, and ending this fiscal year, were presented at the press conference. In order to monitor high-speed optical waveforms a "real time oscilloscope" utilizing a superconducting SFQ high-speed ADC (Analog to Digital Converter) circuit was developed by ISTEC, which resulted in the realization of a sampling frequency rate of 50GS/s.
Such high sampling frequencies have been realized in the past using conventional oscilloscopes together with a number of ADCs placed in parallel, however these have required waveform correctional software. Real time SFQ oscilloscopes are able to realize sampling rates of 50GS/s with only one ADC, greatly improving the reliability in waveform monitoring without the need for correctional software.
. Test results from the 5-bit ADC. The system utilizes a cooling system.
. Input signal (triangular waveform)
. Output waveform from the 5-bit ADC
Eco-Products 2011 The event ended in a great success.
"Eco-Products 2011" held at Tokyo Big Sight on the 15th - 17th December, where ISTEC also presented, ended in a great success with 181,487 visitors.
At the ISTEC booth we introduced a technical exhibition highlighting superconducting devices and made the general public aware about superconductors, with presentations given to junior high school students explaining the relationship between the Smart Community and superconductors, and giving them the opportunity to ask questions to our superconductor experts. Cartoons on the wall of the booth simplified explanations of superconductors and superconducting applications. A model of magnetic levitation train, "SF Train," was operated on an 8m-long rail within the booth. The exhibition attracted a huge amount of interest from both children and adults, receiving favourable comments from the many visitors.
15(Thu.) - 17(Sat.) December ISTEC Presenting at Eco-Products 2011
ISTEC will be presenting at Eco-Products 2011, held at Tokyo Big Sight on 15(Thu.) - 17(Sat.)December. http://eco-pro.com/eco2011/
ISTEC at Booth Number 1-055 in the Smart Community Zone
Cartoons and a model of a "Superconducting Levitation Train, SF Train," utilizing Yttrium-based superconducting wires, have been used this year to explain superconductors.
The movie shows the demonstration run of the SF Train. The train is running smoothly on a 9m-long rail.
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Senior Research Scientist Izumi and Chief Research Scientist Yoshizumi, both received the Electrical Science and Engineering Promotion Award.
Senior Research Scientist Teruo Izumi, Chief Research Scientist Masateru Yoshizumi, and former Research Scientist of ISTEC Masashi Miura (Seikei University), were awarded the "59th Electrical Science and Engineering Promotion Award"
Obituary of Prof. Shoji Tanaka
Professor Emeritus of the University of Tokyo, Shoji Tanaka, Honorary Director General and Advisor of Superconductivity Research Laboratory (SRL) in International Superconductivity Technology Center (ISTEC), passed away on November 11th , 2011. He was 84 years old. He is survived by his wife, Kimiko, and his son Junichi Tomono.
Prof. Tanaka verified the superconducting phenomena of cuprate high temperature superconductor (HTS) for the first time in the world in 1987. After his verification, the world-wide HTS fever was ignited. In 1988, he retired from the University of Tokyo. After his retirement, he endeavored to establish a new joint laboratory of industry, academia, and government. He was appointed as a Vice President of ISTEC and the first Director General of SRL in ISTEC. He served his position till 2008. During the period, he developed a variety of new HTS materials and also technology for fabricating HTS bulks, wires, and devices. He also contributed to raise young researchers and engineers.
A brief record of Prof. Shoji Tanaka;
He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, in 1927. He graduated from the Applied Mathematics in the School of Engineering of the University of Tokyo in 1950, and was appointed as an assistant professor in the department of Applied Physics in 1958, professor in 1968, and Professor Emeritus in 1988. He was approved to be a Vice President of ISTEC and the Director General of SRL in 1988. Prof. Tanaka achieved great success in various research fields including semiconductor devices, electron transport phenomena, charge-density wave, and superconductivity. In 1999 he received the degree of Honorary Doctor of Science from the Purdue University in USA, and in 2005, he was engaged as an Advisory Professor of Shanghai University. He received two awards, the Medal with Purple Ribbon and the Order of the Rising Sun, from Japanese Emperor, in 1990 and 1999, respectively. He also received many other domestic and international awards.
Hasuo, Senior Research Fellow of ISTEC, receives an award at EUCAS 2011.
Dr. Shinya Hasuo, Senior Research Fellow of ISTEC, received an IEEE Award (the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) at the "Superconductivity Centennial Conference" (Joint sponsorship by EUCAS, ISEC and ICMC) held in The Hague, Netherlands, from the 18th to 23rd September 2011.
The latest issue of Otpcom features an article on ISTEC's research and development activities.
A report concerning the research outcomes of the "Development of the Next Generation High-Efficiency Network Device Technology," a project commissioned by New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), was featured in the September 2011 issue of Optcom http://www.opt-online.jp/products/detail104.html.
For this project, ISTEC developed the common basic technology required for the realization of a low-energy consumption edge router.
ISTEC Announces New President
At the 48th Ordinary Board of Directors Meeting and the 38th Board of Councillors Meeting held on 15th June, 2011, Mr. Shosuke Mori, Chairman of Kansai Electric Power Co, Inc., was appointed to the position of president to replace Mr. Tsunehisa Katsumata, Chairman of Tokyo Electric Power Company. Mr Mori officially took office as of 16th June, 2011. Mr. Mori issued his statement on 16th June, details of which can be found on the'About ISTEC' link.
Conference Presentations
・ISTEC made five presentations for the "2011 Spring Meeting of Cryogenic and Superconductivity Society of Japan," held 18th - 20th May in Tsukuba City.
Publication
・Technisch Wetenschappelijk Attaches (TWAs), a homepage forming part of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in the Netherlands, introduced the Technological Development of Superconductivity in Japan.
The website, aimed at a domestic audience, featured the technological achievements in science and technologies between nations, highlighting Japanese technological development in superconductivity as well as introducing ISTEC.
http://www.twanetwerk.nl/default.ashx?DocumentId=14793 (in Dutch）
Conference Presentations
・A total of five presentations for the "2011 Spring Meeting of Cryogenic and Superconductivity Society of Japan"
・One presentation for the "7th Regular Meeting of Cryogenic Association of Japan" held in 2010
・One presentation for the "March Meeting of the American Physical Society"
・At the "2011 International Workshop on Novel Superconductors and Super Materials", ISTEC made two presentations relating to the Funding Program for World-Leading Innovative R&D Science and Technology (FIRST Program).
Publication
・"The History of ISTEC," written by Shoji Tanaka, the former Superconductivity Research Laboratory Director, featured in the preview issue of the European Superconductivity News Forum.
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/tc/csc/europe/newsforum/preview.html