The transport properties of the superconductor hybrid systems.

Tatsushi Akazaki has experimentally investigated novel quantum phenomena in superconductor/semiconductor junctions, such as the Josephson effect, the superconducting proximity effect, and Andreev reflection.  Unlike Josephson junctions consisting of two superconductors coupled with a thin insulator, the quantum phenomena in superconductor/semiconductor junctions can be controlled by varying the transport properties in semiconductors by applying an electric field or by exposing them to light. More recently, he has been engaged in superconducting spintronics research using superconductor/ferromagnetic metal (semiconductor) junctions and superconductor/semiconductor junctions exposed to circularly polarized lights with particular interest in the influence of the coexistence of and competition between superconductivity and spin polarization.