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External Awards
Best Presentation AwardWinners: Yuri Mikawa, The University of Tokyo; Yuki Kubota, Communication Science Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Taiki Fukiage, Communication Science Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Takumi Yokosaka, Communication Science Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Maki Ogawa, Communication Science Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Kazushi Maruya, Communication Science Laboratories, NTT, Inc. Date: September 27, 2025 Organization: The 17th Asia-Pacific Workshop on Mixed and Augmented Reality (APMAR 2025) For “Realizing Large Spatial Display in Public Space Using Multiple Discrete Signages.” Published as: Y. Mikawa, Y. Kubota, T. Fukiage, T. Yokosaka, M. Ogawa, and K. Maruya, “Realizing Large Spatial Display in Public Space Using Multiple Discrete Signages,” APMAR 2025, Busan, South Korea, Sept. 2025. IEC 1906 AwardWinner: Makoto Shimokozono, Device Innovation Center, NTT, Inc. Date: October 21, 2025 Organization: International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) In recognition for his valuable contribution and dedication to updating IEC 62148-2 on small form factor transceivers and his valuable contribution to disclose applications that will lead to the standardization of semiconductor optical amplifiers in data centers. 2025 Applied Physics Letters Rising Star CollectionWinner: Yukihiro Endo, Basic Research Laboratories, NTT, Inc. Date: November 10, 2025 Organization: AIP Publishing For “Self-catalyzed Vapor-liquid-solid Growth of GaS Nanobelt for Nano-optoelectronic Applications.” Published as: Y. Endo, Y. Sekine, and Y. Taniyasu, “Self-catalyzed Vapor-liquid-solid Growth of GaS Nanobelt for Nano-optoelectronic Applications,” Appl. Phys. Lett., Vol. 126, 043105, 2025. Best Demo AwardWinners: Motohiro Makiguchi, Human Informatics Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Ayami Hoshi, Human Informatics Laboratories, NTT, Inc.; Naoto Abe, Human Informatics Laboratories, NTT, Inc. Date: November 14, 2025 Organization: The 31st ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology (VRST 2025) For “Interactive Depth-shifting Aerial Image Display Using Angle Changes between the Display and Optical Elements.” Published as: M. Makiguchi, A. Hoshi, and N. Abe, “Interactive Depth-shifting Aerial Image Display Using Angle Changes between the Display and Optical Elements,” Proc. of VRST 2025, Article 151, Montreal, Canada, Nov. 2025. JSAP Diversity & Inclusion AwardsWinner: Yui Ogawa, Basic Research Laboratories, NTT, Inc. Date: November 17, 2025 Organization: The Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP) For the study on the growth mechanisms and quality improvement of chemical-vapor-deposition-grown graphene toward advancing two-dimensional materials science. Advanced Imaging Society Lumiere Japan Awards 2025 Outstanding Achievement AwardWinner: Cyber-World Laboratory, Human Informatics Laboratories, NTT, Inc. Date: November 19, 2025 Organization: Advanced Imaging Society Japan Committee For “IOWN×Perfume” live performance. Papers Published in Technical Journals and Conference ProceedingsImproving Soil Moisture Estimation in Wet Soils Using L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) through Polarization and Filtering OptimizationN. Sato, S. Aoki, D. Kobayashi, Y. Maruo, S. Kodaira, and K. Noborio Science of Remote Sensing, Vol. 12, 100290, September 2025. Accurately mapping soil water distribution is crucial for effective irrigation management and landslide risk assessment. Microwave remote sensing is an effective method for assessing soil water content over extensive areas; however, its efficacy tends to diminish in regions with high soil water content. This study aimed to evaluate the sensitivity of soil moisture estimation in areas with volumetric water content exceeding 0.3 m3/m3, focusing on methodologies of optimizing polarization, despeckling filter application, and ground truth data determination. Among the polarizations of electromagnetic wave analyzed—vertical and horizontal polarization (VH), vertical and vertical polarization (VV), horizontal and horizontal polarization (HH), and horizontal and vertical polarization (HV)—HH and VH polarization exhibited the favorable performance. We evaluated the effectiveness of various despeckling filters—Boxcar, Lee, Frost, Gamma-Map, Refined Lee, and Lee Sigma—on the accuracy of soil moisture estimation. The combination of HH polarization with the Frost filter yielded high correlation coefficients, low root mean square error, and satisfactory sensitivity. While the smallest window size (3 × 3) provided sufficient noise reduction, larger window sizes degraded estimation accuracy. A notable correlation was observed when the ground-truth data were derived from averaging soil water content across an area matching the despeckling filter window size. This suggests that SAR image pixel values effectively represent the mean soil water content within an equivalent spatial extent of the despeckling filter.These findings highlight that accurate soil moisture estimation using SAR backscatter requires careful consideration of polarization, filter type, window size, and the spatial scale of in-situ measurements. Emergence of an Epsilon-Near-Zero Medium from Microscopic Atomic PrinciplesL. Ruks and J. Ruostekoski Physical Review Letters, Vol. 135, 233603, December 2025. We demonstrate that an effective near-zero refractive index can emerge from collective light scattering in a discrete atomic lattice, using essentially exact microscopic simulations. In a 25-layer array, cooperative response leads to over a thirtyfold increase in the effective optical wavelength within the medium, almost eliminating optical phase accumulation, with potential applications in spectroscopy and optical manipulation of quantum emitters. Crucially, the near-zero refractive index arises from first-principles microscopic theory, rather than being imposed through continuous phenomenological effective-medium models—providing conceptually important insight into the emergence of macroscopic electromagnetism from atomic-scale interactions. |
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