High-performance Terahertz Project kick-off symposium

On 8 January 2015, the Institut national de la recherche scientifiqu (INRS), Quebec, Canada—international center of excellence in optics research—and Okayama University held the Global Future With Canada-based INRS Session-High-Performance Terahertz Project Kickoff Symposium at Okayama University.

The symposium was held to discuss technological developments and new findings related to biotechnology based on terahertz wavelength technology and to formulate ideas on initiating new international joint research.

Okayama University Deputy Vice-Executive Director (Research) and University Research Administrator (URA) Professor Shuichi Furuya and INRS Professor Tsuneyuki Ozaki introduced their respective organizations. Researchers from both universities described their research in talks on innovative technological developments and basic research in areas including terahertz engineering and the life sciences.

INRS researchers also toured some research facilities at Okayama University including the Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology’s Measurement System Engineering Laboratory, where Associate Professor Toshihiko Kiwa described how he invented his terahertz chemical microscope.

The two universities have held regular meetings and in depth technical discussions at each other’s campuses since 2015. Notably, INRS is one of the few organizations in North America with high-power laser facilities and is internationally acknowledged for its cutting-edge research in lasers.

The universities plan to continue exchanges of personnel with the long term aim of becoming leading centers for optical technology.

Further inquiries

Associate Professor Toshihiko Kiwa, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology (Engineering), Okayama University.