Presented to Naoto Nagai, Yuta Kijima, and Makoto Okawara for “Infrared Response of Sub-Micron-Scale Structures of Polyoxymethylene: Surface Polaritons in Polymers Applied Spectroscopy”, Vol 70, Issue 8, pp. 1278 - 1291

Naoto Nagai

Naoto Nagai received a Master’s degree from Niigata University under the supervision of Professor Shin-ichi Katayama in the field of theoretical solid state physics. He worked at Toray Research Center, Inc. (TRC) after graduation. He was a leader of the infrared spectroscopy team in TRC and received his PhD from Tohoku University under the supervision of Professor Aritada Hatta while working at TRC. His main work was to resolve problems in the production processes or complaints from the large companies in Japan using spectroscopic techniques such as infrared spectroscopy, photoluminescence, spectroscopic ellipsometry and terahertz spectroscopy. His main interests were the point defect analysis of semiconductor materials, characterization of dielectric films, analyzing polymer surfaces, and feasibility study of the application of the terahertz spectroscopy. When he moved to Industrial Research Institute of Niigata Prefecture (IRI-Niigata), which is one of the research centers organized by the local government in Japan, he helped small companies in Niigata Prefecture to deal with manufacturing problems, using Raman spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. However, the central feature of his research is the development of new analytic methods in infrared spectroscopy. With Daipla Wintes Co., Ltd, he produced the “Nano Catcher”, which is an original instrument to prepare the very thin surface layers of samples. He is now a research director of Ken-ou Technical Support Center in IRI-Niigata. He received the Advanced Analytical Technology Award from The Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry in 2005.