“Photon is our business” : introduction of research and development at Hamamatsu Photonics

In this presentation, I will introduce R&D at Hamamatsu Photonics. Hamamatsu, it’s the city name, is almost located in the center of Tokyo and Osaka, and has long been a "manufacturing town" represented by the "Yaramaika spirit (Let’s do it !)”. Many companies such as Yamaha and Kawai for musical instruments, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha for motorcycles, and many others were founded here in Hamamatsu. The origin of Hamamatsu Photonics can be traced back to the vacuum tube technology of Prof. Kenjiro Takayanagi, who invented "the world's first electronic television" at Hamamatsu Technical College (currently Faculty of Engineering, Shizuoka University) in 1926. Hamamatsu Photonics was established in Hamamatsu City in 1953 as an "optical device manufacturer" by Heihachiro Horiuchi (1st president) who had graduated from the Takayanagi Laboratory, and Teruo Hiruma (2nd president). Here, we will introduce the history of Hamamatsu Photonics' contributions to advanced scientific research, including the development of 20-inch photomultiplier tubes for neutrino detection and Si detectors for Higgs boson detection. We also introduce spatial light modulator technology that are being put to practical use in super-resolution microscopy and laser processing. We think our mission is to benefit society through the development of technologies that capture, measure, and generate various types of light.