Kubo Wakana:Tenured Faculties|TUAT's tenure-track program

Research Support Office Research Advancement Division. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology

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Kubo Wakana

Affiliation	Institute of Engineering
Division	Division of Advanced Electrical and Electronics Engineering
Research field	Optoelectronics
Keyword(S)	Nanofabrication, optoelectronics, plasmonics,
Url	http://web.tuat.ac.jp/~kubolab/top_En.htm

Research experience	・Apr.2005-Mar.2006: Research Fellowship for Young Scientist(DC2), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ・Apr.2006-Mar.2007: Research Fellowship for Young Scientist(PD), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science ・Apr.2007-Mar.2010: Researcher, RIKEN ・Apr.2010-Mar.2011: Postdoctral Researcher, RIKEN ・Apr.2011-Mar.2014: Special Postdoctral Researcher, RIKEN ・Oct.2011-Mar.2014: JST-PRESTO Researcher ・Apr.2014-Dec.2015: Visiting Researcher, RIKEN ・Apr.2014-Mar.2015: JST-PRESTO Researcher ・Jan.2016-Dec.2020: Associate Professor, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology ・Jan.2021-Present: Associate Professor(Tenured), Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology
Educational background	・Apr.1997-Mar.2001: B. Sc., Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science ・Apr.2001.4-Mar.2003: M. En., Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo ・Apr.2003-Mar.2006: Ph. D., Department of Applied Chemistry, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo
Awards	* The latest information is shown at the member's website. (At Jan. 2021) ・Mar.2007: Honda-Fujishima Prize ・Mar.2009: Japanese Society of Applied Physics, Young Scientist Presentation Award ・May.2012: TANAKA holdings, Co. Ltd., MMS prize
Selected papers and publications	* The latest information is shown at the member's website. (At Jan. 2021) ・ M. Horikawa, X. Fang, and W. Kubo* "Metamaterial perfect absorber-enhanced plasmonic photo-thermoelectric conversion", Applied Physics Express, 13, 082006, 2020. ・ K. Miwa, H. Ebihara, X. Fang, W. Kubo* "Photo-thermoelectric Conversion of Plasmonic Nanohole Array", Applied Sciences, 8, 2681, 2020. ・ W. Kubo, Y. Ogata, J. Frame, T. Tanaka, X. Fang, "Polarization-dependent phase transition temperature in plasmonic thin films", Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 59, 052001, 2020. ・ S. Katsumata, T. Isegawa, T. Okamoto, and W. Kubo, "Effect of Metamaterial Perfect Absorber on Device Performance of PCPDTBT:PC71BM Solar Cell", Physica Status Solidi A, 217, 1900910, 2020. ・W. Kubo, M. Kondo, and K. Miwa, "Quantitative Analysis of the Plasmonic Photo-thermoelectric Phenomenon", J. Phys. Chem. C, 123, 21670-21675, 2019. ・ T. Hirata, K. Watanabe, and W. Kubo., "Nanomembrane as a substrate for ultraweight devices", Thin solid films, 676, 8-11, 2019. ・T. Isegawa, T. Okamoto, M. Kondo, S. Katsumata, and W. Kubo, "P3HT:PC61BM solar cell embedding silver nanostripes for light absorption enhancement", Optics Communications, 441, 21-25, 2019.

Research Description

I work on developing highly efficient solar cells and thermoelectric devices by controlling sunlight and heat in nanoscale using metamaterials. Our technology enables us to confine light and heat in a nanoscale, resulting in an unprecedented energy generation. This technique will be crucial for realizing eco-friendly society in the future.

Metamaterials used for controlling sun light and thermal control consist of metal nanostructures, whose shape, size, and material will determine their resonance wavelength. In other words, appropriate designing of metamaterial allows us to manipulate light and thermal absorption, reflection, and scattering properties of the metamaterial.The next step will be to apply this technique to developing optoelectronics devices, energy devices, and materials with useful applications.

The PDF file can be downloaded from URL

About TUAT's tenure-track program

I thank the tenure-track program for providing me this prestigious post as a principle investigator. Although common in Europe and America, such tenure-track program is still relatively rare in Japan, especially considering the large number of young researchers and the limited number of faculty positions. The TUAT’s program provides me the precious opportunity to manage my own lab. It also enables me to easily seek advices from senior researchers in the university.

Future aspirations

Establishing new technologies that produce eco-friendly and clean energy is an urgent issue. I will pursue research with high impact that will bring about energy innovation. In future, we hope to return the results to our society to realize better human life.