Ever since the establishment of the Tokyo Academy of Physics 125 years ago, the Department of Physics has been at the forefront of teaching and research at the University, making the University’s philosophy of popularizing science a reality while adhering to its own ability-based traditions. Physics is the core of the natural sciences, and the ability-based approach adopted by the Department provides the ideal educational spirit for teaching a subject that forms the basis of all science and technology. The goal of physics as a discipline is to get to the heart of nature by discovering universal principles from individual phenomena. To impart this way of thinking to its students, education in the Department revolves around teaching mathematics as a means of expressing logical thinking, physics experimentation for mastering empirical methods, the core subjects that are the basis of contemporary physics, and research projects, for which students use all that they have learned in physics. Educationally, the aim is not the accumulation of knowledge, but rather the development of the skills to organically apply this knowledge to identifying and solving problems. The Department equips students with the approaches and skills used in physics, producing graduates capable of contributing to society in a range of fields. It has an established reputation for providing an education founded on ability-based principles, and also places a strong emphasis on training physics teachers.

On the research front, the Department of Physics energetically pursues theoretical and experimental studies in a range of fields, and has particular expertise in X-ray astronomy, atmospheric physics, optical physics, the physics of magnetism, superconductor physics, low-temperature quantum physics, nanostructure physics, computational physics, nuclear physics, and physics education. For details, please see the information on research conducted by each group.

• 

  Kawamura-Group

   

  Science education special in Physics and basic science teaching, Science communication

• 

  Sakata-Group

   

  Superconductivity, Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, Strongly Correlated Material, Ferroelectricity

• 

  Suzuki-Group

   

  QCD, quark, gluon, spin, weak interaction

• 

  Tokunaga-Group

   

  Nonlinear Optics, Ultrafast Spectroscopy, Exciton, Single Quantum Dot, Molecular Crystal, Photosynthesis, Hydrogen Photoproduction

• 

  Nikuni-Group

   

  Ultracold Atomic Gases, Bose-Einstein Condensation, Superfluid Fermi Gases

• 

  Hashimoto-Group

   

  TEM, Crystal Lattice Defect, Metal, Semiconductor, Nano-technology

• 

  Homma-Group

   

  Carbon Nanotubes, Crystal Growth, Surface Physics, Electron Microcopy

• 

  Matsushita-Group

   

  X-ray astronomy, galaxies, clusters of galaxies, chemical evolution of the universe, dark matter

• 

  Miura-Group

   

  Atmospheric Aerosols, Climate Change, Size Distribution, New Particle Production, Refractive Index, Internal Mixture, Cloud Condensation Nuclei (CCN), Balloon-borne Observation, TEM/EDX

• 

  Mitsuda-Group

   

  Neutron scattering, Spin frustration, Magnetic phase transition, Slow dynamics, Monte Carlo simulation, Triangular Lattice Antiferromagnet, Spin glass, multiferroics, X-ray diffraction

• 

  Watanabe-Group

   

  Electronic and thermal transport, Nonequilibrium/excited electronic states, High electric-field processes, DFT(TDDFT, PRDF), Green’s function, Molecular dynamics