The symposium was organized by RIKEN and the Japan Academy of Sciences, and cosponsored by the Nishina Memorial Foundation. Nobel prize winners Yuan T. Lee and Koichi Tanaka were invited as plenary lecturers.
Lee, who specializes in chemical reactions in crossed molecular beams, spoke about MALDI (matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization), the basic process that was developed by Koichi Tanaka of Shimadzu Corp. Tanaka was a winner of the 2002 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and also gave a talk at the symposium.
Several eminent researchers were also invited to present their research. Haruo Shiromaru from Tokyo Metropolitan University described experiments in which he irradiated molecular ions in an electrostatic ion storage ring with a laser, and then examined the resulting configurations and reactions. RIKEN’s Maki Kawai spoke about inducing molecular vibrations through the formation of a temporal negative ion state using a scanning tunneling microscope. They made the molecule react by injecting an electron from the point of the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy into a molecule that is adsorbed onto a solid surface.
Hisanori Shinohara of Nagoya University discussed nanofabrication of quantum metallic nanowires in carbon nanotubes. He also introduced research into a new material called peapod, in which metallic ions are wrapped in fullerene that is embedded in nanotubes. RIKEN’s Toshinori Suzuki spoke about experiments on time-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy, in which he discharged electrons from molecules with ultrashort laser pulses, making visible a state change in intramolecular electrons.
In his plenary address, Tanaka noted that breakthroughs in science require both creativity and teamwork. This research is expected to yield new discoveries in physics and chemistry, as well as a variety of applications.
