Kenji Ohmori

is a Japanese physicist and chemist. National Institutes of Natural Sciences, Japan (NIMS), Institute for Molecular Science (IMS)

Education and career 1987 Graduated from Faculty of Engineering, The University of Tokyo 1992 Ph. D, The University of Tokyo 1992 Research Associate, Tohoku University 2001 Associate Professor, Tohoku University 2003 Full Professor, IMS 2007–2010 Director, Laser Research Center for Molecular Science, IMS 2010–present Chairman, Department of Photo-Molecular Science, IMS 2004–2005 Visiting Professor, Tohoku University 2007–2008 Visiting Professor, Tokyo Institute of Technology 2009–2011 Visiting Professor, The University of Tokyo 2014–2016 Visiting Professor, University of Strasbourg 2012–present Visiting Professor(Humboldt Awardee), University of Heidelberg

Research Kenji Ohmori has succeeded in designing and visualizing spatiotemporal images given by the interference of matter waves of atoms in a molecule with picometer and femtosecond resolution [1,2]. The precision of this processing is the highest to date, higher than that of the current nanotechnology by three orders of magnitudes. This ultrahigh-precision processing has been implemented with the temporal oscillations of laser electric fields engineered with attosecond precision and imprinted on the matter waves of atoms and electrons in a molecule. He has utilized this technique to develop a molecular computer in which a single 0.3-nanometer-size molecule can calculate 1000 times faster than the current fastest supercomputer [3,4]. He has also developed an ultrafast quantum simulator that can simulate non-equilibrium dynamics of quantum many-body systems in one nanosecond, introducing a novel concept where he has combined his ultrafast coherent control with attosecond precision and ultracold atoms cooled down to temperatures close to absolute zero.

Honors and awards 1998 Award by Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology 2007 JSPS Prize 2007 Japan Academy Medal 2008 Norman Hascoe Distinguished Lecturer, University of Connecticut, USA 2009 Fellow of the American Physical Society 2012 Humboldt Prize 2017 Matsuo Foundation Hiroshi Takuma Memorial Prize 2018 Commendation for Science and Technology by the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology of Japan 2021 National Medal with Purple Ribbon