Information photonics, holography, photonic DNA information technology

In the significantly-advanced information society, it is necessary to deal with diverse information efficiently and fast. Optical communication is one of the technologies where light plays an important role, but the potential capability of the light in information science and technology is limited to this. For example, light can interact with various materials or objects, and information can be visualized for humans. These abilities are important for connecting between the real space and the information space. In addition, the properties of light such as parallelism, high bandwidth, and low energy show its high usefulness as an information carrier. Against this background, my interest is in the research area of "Information photonics," which mainly focuses on the development of high-performance and functional information systems utilizing photonics technologies. For example, I’m studying about photonic DNA information technology, which enables information processing and information encoding at nanoscale based on cooperative use of DNA structural changes and optical phenomena. This is expected to realize a new information system where objects, which is actual entities, and information, which is abstract, are manipulated simultaneously. In addition, I am developing a method to generate optical patterns by computer generated holography, and applying it to novel imaging and security. I also investigate on optical computing using spatial light modulation or energy transfer at nanoscale.