Ayumu Matsumoto
Assistant Professor | Ph.D. in Engineering
Applied Chemistry Course
Field of Applied Chemistry
Ayumu Matsumoto teaches courses in information processing and programming, as well as laboratory sessions in physics and chemical engineering, taking care to build each lesson from fundamental concepts while checking students' understanding along the way. As a member of the Surface Energy Chemistry Research Group, he investigates the micro-fabrication of silicon surfaces, the recovery of precious metals from discarded electronic devices, and the development of novel laser-based analytical techniques.
In Situ Elemental Analysis Using Laser-Induced Plasma
What students can learn
Students gain a solid foundation in lasers, plasma physics, spectroscopy, and optical design. Building optical systems together and exchanging ideas with students is one of the most rewarding aspects of this work.
This research develops a technique for elemental analysis that irradiates a sample with laser light to generate plasma and then measures the resulting emission. Because this approach can identify a sample's elemental composition instantaneously and from a distance, it is being explored for applications such as surveying seabed resources like rare metals, analyzing radioactive materials at nuclear decommissioning sites, and monitoring industrial processes. Using substrates fabricated through a surface treatment process developed in the laboratory, the team has recently achieved highly sensitive and precise detection of trace components from extremely small sample quantities.
