Superconducting Magnet Generates World's Highest Magnetic Field at 24T
7 September 2011
A team led by Dr. Shinji Matsumoto, a Senior Researcher of the Magnet Development Group, succeeded in generating a magnetic field of 24.0 tesla, which set a new world's record for the highest magnetic field with a superconducting magnet.
Press release on NIMS website
A New Operation Principle for Solid-State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) Quantum Computers
6 July 2011
Dr. Atsushi Goto (Senior Researcher of the High Field NMR Group, Nano Characterization Unit) and his co-workers discovered a new operation principle for a "solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) quantum computer," which is one of the most advanced testbeds for "quantum computation".
Press release on NIMS website
World's First Elucidation of the Structure of the Light-Harvesting Functional Substance of a Photosynthetic Bacterium: Discovery of the Layered Structure of the Bacteriochlorophyll c Complex
28 April 2009
A joint research team led by Dr Tadashi Shimizu, a Group Leader in the Nano Characterization Center, succeeded in a detailed elucidation of the structure of the molecule called bacteriochlorophyll c, which is a kind of chlorophyll, in actual living bodies using the carbon and magnesium solid-state NMR and other techniques. Specifically, although it had long been known that groups of roughly 100 molecule scale coalesce until they form a layered structure called chlorosomes, in this work, it was possible to show from experimental results that one class is designated from among the 6 proposed classes of layered structures. It was also possible to show that the cause of the layered structure formed by bonding between pairs of molecules is chemical bonding between water molecules and magnesium. These facts were discovered for the first time in the world.
Stacking of Bacteriochlorophyll c Macrocycles in Chlorosome from Chlorobium limicola As Revealed by Intermolecular 13C Magnetic-Dipole Correlation, X-Ray Diffraction, and Quadrupole Coupling in 25Mg NMR.
Y Kotani et al, Biochemistry, 48(1), 2009, 74–86
Press release on NIMS website (Japanese only)
World's First Successful High Resolution NMR Measurement of Protein Using Oxide Superconductor NMR Device
17 October 2008
A research team consisting of members from the National Institute for Materials Science, RIKEN, Kobe Steel, Ltd., and JEOL Ltd. led by Dr Tsukasa Kiyoshi of NIMS developed a high resolution NMR device using an oxide superconductor coil for the first time in the world and succeeded in NMR measurement of samples of aqueous solutions of proteins. The work was part of the Development of Systems and Technology for Advanced Measurement and Analysis Project of the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST).
Press release on NIMS website (Japanese only)