Profile
Yuta Michimura (道村唯太)
Associate Professor at RESCEU, University of Tokyo
FY2023 The University of Tokyo Excellent Young Researcher
Born in Yokohama, Japan, in August 1987. PhD in Science.
My CV in pdf (as of January 2025).
Professional Experience
- January 2025 - present
- Visiting Scientist at Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe, University of Tokyo
- July 2024 - present
- Associate Professor (concurrent) at Department of Physics, University of Tokyo
- April 2024 - present
- Associate Professor at Research Center for the Early Universe, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo
- FY2023 The University of Tokyo Excellent Young Researcher
- April 2022 - March 2024
- Research Scientist at LIGO Laboratory, The Division of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy, California Institute of Technology
- April 2022 - March 2024
- Visiting Researcher at Research Center for the Early Universe, Graduate School of Science, University of Tokyo
- November 2020 - March 2024
- JST PRESTO Researcher (concurrent)
- Area "Creating state-of-the-art science by innovative optics and photonics"
- Research project: New dark matter search with high precision polarization measurements
- July 2014 - March 2022
- Assistant Professor at Department of Physics, University of Tokyo
- April 2013 - June 2014
- JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientists (DC2)
- Research project: Research on radiation pressure induced instability in the LCGT optical cavities (13J10386)
Education
- June 2015
- Doctor of Science in Physics (University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan)
- Ph.D. Thesis: Tests of Lorentz Invariance with an Optical Ring Cavity (Thesis)
- March 2012
- Master of Science in Physics (University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan)
- Master Thesis: Search for Anisotropy in the One-Way Speed of Light Using an Optical Ring Cavity
- March 2010
- Bachelor of Science in Physics (University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan)
- Theme: BBM experiment for the interferometer module of DECIGO Pathfinder
Awards
- May 2016
- Springer Theses award (Springer eBook, Amazon link)
- For: Tests of Lorentz Invariance with an Optical Ring Cavity
- March 2016
- 10th Young Scientist Award of the Physical Society of Japan
- For: Tests of Lorentz Invariance with an Optical Ring Cavity
Grants
Principal Investigator
- June 2024 - March 2027
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory), Principal Investigator
- Research project: Testing quantum nature of gravity with optically levitated mirrors (24K21546)
- Total budget: 6,500,000 JPY
- April 2024 - March 2028
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Principal Investigator
- Characterization of mirror birefringence fluctuations for next generation gravitational wave detectors (24K00640<)
- Total budget: 18,590,000 JPY
- November 2020 - March 2025
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas (A), Planned Research, Principal Investigator
- Area: What is dark matter? - Comprehensive study of the huge discovery space in dark matter (20A203, Organizer 20H05850)
- Research project: Ultralight dark matter search using gravitational wave detectors and laser interferometer experiments (20H05854)
- Total budget: 149,370,000 JPY (planned)
- November 2020 - March 2024
- JST PRESTO "Creating state-of-the-art science by innovative optics and photonics"
- Research project: New dark matter search with high precision polarization measurements (JPMJPR200B)
- Total budget: 40,000,000 JPY
- Achievement: Developed polarization measurement methods for axion dark matter search using an optical ring cavity, which led to the first observing run and the first upper limits. We also successfully improved the sensitivity by two orders of magnitude by developing techniques using an auxiliary cavity and a wavelength tunable laser.
- November 2019 - November 2020
- The Sumitomo Foundation 2019 Grant for Basic Science Research Projects
- Research project: Search for axion dark matter with an optical ring cavity (Grant No. 190069)
- Total budget: 3,600,000 JPY
- Achievement: Developed an optical ring cavity for axion dark matter search and a system for long term data taking. In May 2021, we successfully demonstrated the first observation using our new method.
- June 2018 - March 2021
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory), Principal Investigator
- Research project: Test of macroscopic quantum mechanics with optically levitated mirrors (18K18763)
- Total budget: 6,370,000 JPY
- Achievement: Successfully demonstrated the stability of our sandwich configuration by measuring the optical trapping force acting on a levitated mirror with a torsion pendulum. We also worked on the fabrication of tiny mirrors with new approaches using a stress in highly reflective coatings or photonic crystal technology.
- April 2018 - March 2022
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Principal Investigator
- Research project: Comprehensive Search for Anisotropy in the Speed of Light using an Optical Ring Cavity (18H01224)
- Total budget: 17,420,000 JPY
- Achievement: Integrated a monolithic optical bench on a rotation table with an improved stability and continuous rotation. Although there is still a noise peak at the rotational frequency, we have successfully improved the floor noise level by two orders of magnitude with this complete setup.
- April 2015 - March 2018
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A), Principal Investigator
- Research project: Search for Lorentz Violation using an Optical Ring Cavity (15H05445)
- Total budget: 24,310,000 JPY
- Achievement: Developed a compact and continuous turntable with wireless signal extraction, and monolithic optical cavity integrated with input optics for the first time. With these components, we searched for Lorentz violation for just one week and succeeded in reaching the world best precision.
- April 2015 - March 2018
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research, Principal Investigator
- Research project: Realization of Macroscopic Entanglement with Optically Levitated Mirrors (15K13542)
- Total budget: 3,770,000 JPY
- Achievement: Proposed a new method to optically levitate a mirror with two optical cavities linearly aligned, and showed reaching the standard quantum limit is feasible with this method. We also worked on the proof of principle experiment with a torsion pendulum.
- April 2023 - March 2015
- Grant-in-Aid for JSPS Research Fellow
- Research project: Research on radiation pressure induced instability in the LCGT optical cavities (13J10386)
- Total budget: 2,000,000 JPY
- Achevement: Designed the layout and radius of curvatures of the mirrors of the main interferometer of KAGRA based on alignment sensing and control. Designed mirror actuators and optics for alignment sensing and control.
Co-investigator
- April 2024 - March 2027
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), Co-investigator
- Full mitigation of birefringence for high-precision optical experiments (24K00649、PI: Marc Eisenmann)
- Allocated budget: 900,000 JPY (planned)
- April 2021 - March 2024
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), Co-investigator
- Research project: Innovative Quantum Noise reduction strategies for GW detectors (21H04476、PI: Matteo Leonardi)
- Allocated budget: 800,000 JPY
- August 2020 - March 2025
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S), Co-investigator
- Research project: Inclusive study on gravitational-wave astrophysics (20H05639, PI: Jun'ichi Yokoyama)
- Allocated budget: 1,700,000 JPY (planned)
- November 2018 - March 2028
- MEXT Q-LEAP Program Quantum Metrology & Sensing Co-investigator
- Research project: Establishment of earthquake early alert method using high sensitivity gravity gradient sensors (JPMXS0118070351, PI: Masaki Ando)
- October 2018 - March 2024
- JST CREST "Creation of an innovative quantum technology platform base on the advanced control of quantum states" ANR-JST Joint Proposal, Lead Joint Researcher
- Research project: Manipulation of an optomechanically coupled oscillator using a quantum filter (JPMJCR1873, Research Directors: Kentaro Somiya, Antoine Heidmann)
- Allocated budget: 19,300,000 JPY (until October 2020; Research Participant from November 2020 since PRESTO research started)
- Achievement: Discovered that unstable inverted oscillators can dramatically accerelate the generation of gravity-incuded quantum entanglement, and optically levitate mirrors are suitable for such experiments. In collaboration with the Laboratoire des Matériaux Avancés (LMA) in France, we have been developing a mirror weighing approximately 1 mg for optical levitation.
Research participation
- February 2024 - March 2029
- JST ASPIRE for Top Scientists, Research Participant
- Research project: Quantum control technology for pioneering gravitational wave astronomy (JPMJAP2320, PI: Kentaro Somiya, David McClelland)
- April 2024 - March 2025
- Research Foundation for Opto-Science and Technology FY2023 Research Grant, Research Collaborator
- Research project: Development of optical spring quantum locking for direct observation of primordial gravitational waves originating from cosmic inflation (Link, PI: Tomohiro Ishikawa)
- May 2017 - March 2022
- JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (S), Research Collaborator
- Research project: Calibration Standard and High-Precision Data Analysis toward the Observational Era of Gravitational Waves (17H06133, PI: Nobuyuki Kanda)
Teaching
- 2014 - 2022
- Instructor for laboratory class for third-year undergraduate students
- Department of Physics, University of Tokyo
- 2016
- Special lectures on Laser Interferometry for Gravitational Wave Detection
- Department of Electrical and Information Engineering, Niigata University
- 2010
- Teaching assistant for electromagnetism courses
- Department of Physics, University of Tokyo
Others
Committees
- April 2025
- From Quarks to Neutron Stars: Insights from kHz gravitational waves Organizer (Website)
- October 2024
- Workshop on Cosmic Indicators of Dark Matter 2024 Organizer (Website)
- September 2024
- Quantum probes for gravity workshop 2024 Organizer (Website)
- August 2024
- School of Science Open Campus 2024 Committee Member (Website)
- April 2024 - present
- KAGRA Systems Engineering Office Member
- March 2024 - present
- KAGRA Future Strategy Committee Chair
- March 2023
- Workshop on Very Light Dark Matter 2023 Organizer (Website)
- October 2020 - August 2021, December 2022 - present
- LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA Joint Editorial Board Member
- September 2021 - October 2023
- Japan Gravitational Wave Community Steering Committee Member
- September 2021
- Workshop on Very Light Dark Matter 2021 Organizer (Website)
- December 2020 - present
- DECIGO Steering Committee Member
- July 2020 - present
- RIKEN iTHEMS Dark Matter Working Group Member (Website)
- November 2019
- JSAP Quantum Electronics Workshop "Space Quantum Electronics" Organizer (Website)
- August 2019 - August 2021
- KAGRA Committee for Publication Control Member
- June 2019 - present
- JAXA Advisory Committee for Space Engineering Formation Flying Working Group Member
- June 2019
- "The 6th KAGRA International Workshop" Scientific Organizing Committee Member (Website)
- December 2018 - September 2021
- KAGRA Future Planning Committee Member
- August 2017 - present
- KAGRA Diversity Committee Member
- June 2016 - March 2022
- KAGRA Main Interferometer (MIF) Group Chief
- February 2016 - August 2019
- KAGRA Scientific Congress Board Member
- June 2016
- "The First International Meeting on KAGRA" Scientific Organizing Committee Member (Website)
- March 2015 - February 2022
- Gravitational wave research exchange meeting Organizer
- November 2014 - May 2016
- KAGRA Main Interferometer (MIF) Group Sub-Chief
Visiting research
- June 2018 - August 2018
- European Gravitational Observatory
- June 2014
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- January 2014 - March 2014, April 2011 - May 2011
- LIGO Hanford Observatory January
- February 2013 - March 2013, May 2012 - July 2012, September 2010 - November 2010
- California Institute of Technology
- March 2011 - April 2011
- Kyoto University
Programs and scholarships
- June - August 2018
- Young Researchers International Deployment Program, University of Tokyo
- June - March 2013, May - July 2012, September - November 2010
- Institutional Program for Young Researcher Overseas Visits, University of Tokyo
- May - July 2012, September - November 2010
- LIGO Visitors Program, California Institute of Technology
- June 2012
- JASSO Repayment Exemption for Students with Excellent Grades (Full Exemption)
- March 2012 - June 2014
- Advanced Leading Graduate Course for Photon Science, University of Tokyo
- Research project: Research on quantum radiation pressure fluctuation using torsion pendulum laser interferometer
- August 2008
- 2nd Particle and Nuclear Physics Summer School for Undergraduate Students: KEK Summer Challenge
- Project: Laboratory test of the law of universal gravitation -Search for extra dimensions-
- August 2008
- Radio astronomy summer school at Nobeyama Radio Observatory
- Project: Ammonia observations of the infrared dark cloud G28.34+0.06
Memberships
- International Astronomical Union (from June 2022)
- LIGO Scientific Collaboration (from April 2022)
- Cosmic Explorer Consortium (from October 2020)
- LISA Consortium (from October 2018)
- Cosmic Ray Researchers Congress (CRC) (from September 2015)
- Japanese Gravitational-Wave Community (JGWC) (from October 2012)
- KAGRA Collaboration (from around 2011)
- Physical Society of Japan (from June 2009)