Overview
The Photoelectronics Research Group at the International Christian University (ICU) lead by Professor Ken Okano is one of the five Physics major groups within the Department of Arts and Sciences.
The main goal of this group is to fabricate a high quantum efficiency X-ray detector using amorphous selenium (a-Se) as the photoconductive target and a diamond cold cathode. This device is aimed to be used for purposes such as astronomic obsercations and for medical applications. We investigate the electronic, crystallographic and physical characteristics of a-Se in order to obtain a more durable and affordable photoconductive target. Recently, we have discovered peculiar characteristics when applying electrochemical doping to amorphous selenium and are currently exploring possible applications such a photovoltaic devices.
We make our samples, charaterise it, and make a device out of it by ourselves, but for each step we colaborate with other people from other institutes around the globe, discuss over it, and try to improve it. Although it is a very time consuming process, this methodology has brought us some very unique results.