Researcher Introduction
Muon Science Laboratory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization Postdoctoral Fellow Masatoshi Hiraishi

Motivation for Becoming a Researcher

I encountered the muon in a lecture during my junior year of college and was greatly surprised to learn that muons have been used in the tomography of volcanoes, in catalyzed fusion, and for probing physical properties. I went to graduate school to study muon probes in condensed matter physics.

Your Greatest Strengths

I have a better aptitude for software than hardware. For example, I created a special web system for myself to monitor muon experiments. The system is now being used by other experimental-users at J-PARC MLF.

What Makes Your Research Interesting or Worthwhile

We sometimes get unexpected results when carrying out experiments and/or analyzing the experimental data. In such situations, using my imagination while conducting experiments through trial and error feels like something worth doing.

Other Research That Interests You

I would like to continue conducting research on hydrogen that uses the muon as a light isotope of hydrogen. Muon spin rotation (μSR) measurement is a unique technique for simulating the electronic structure of hydrogen in materials. I believe that μSR can provide us essential information on semiconductors, solar-cells, and thermoelectric materials in which impurity hydrogen plays an important role.

Interests Other Than Research You Would Like to Pursue

I enjoy riding my bicycle occasionally (once or twice a month) for the health benefits. Although I don’t have an expensive bike, someday I am going to overtake a person riding a very expensive one. Of course, I am aware how difficult this is.

Masatoshi Hiraishi

Muon Science Laboratory, Institute of Materials Structure Science, High Energy Accelerator Research Organization Postdoctoral Fellow

Principal Work History:

Mar. 2012: Department of Materials Structure Science at the Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Doctorate of Science. My doctoral thesis was on the probing of Fe-based superconductors with muons, one of the elemental particles.
Oct. 2012: Present position. Current research theme is the investigation of the electronic structure of impurity hydrogen in semiconductors using muons.

Japanese Driver’s license (Class 1)

Notable Articles:

  • [1] M. Hiraishi, K. M. Kojima, M. Miyazaki, I. Yamauchi, H. Okabe, A. Koda, R. Kadono, S. Matsuishi, and H. Hosono. “Cage Electron-Hydroxyl Complex State as Electron Donor in Mayenite. ” Phys. Rev. B 93 (2016): 121201(R).
  • [2] M. Hiraishi, K. M. Kojima, I. Yamauchi, H. Okabe, S. Takeshita, A. Koda, R. Kadono, X. Zhang, S. Matsuishi, H. Hosono, K. Hirata, S. Otani, and N. Ohashi. “Electronic correlation in the quasi-two-dimensional electride Y2C .” Phys. Rev. B 98 (2018): 041104(R).

E-mail Address

hiramasa(at)post.kek.jp
*Please change the (at) to @.