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Tokyo, March 24, 2023 - A consortium of joint research partners including RIKEN, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Osaka University, Fujitsu Limited (Fujitsu) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) announced the successful development of Japan’s first superconducting(1) quantum computer(2). Starting March 27, 2023, the partners will provide the newly developed technology to users in Japan as a cloud service for non-incommercial use under a joint research agreement with RIKEN.

A group of researchers from the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) and Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI, Japan) in collaboration with the Eindhoven University of Technology, University of L’Aquila, and Macquarie University has developed a 19-core optical fiber with a standard cladding diameter (0.125 mm), which has the largest number of cores among the standard cladding diameter multi-core fibers, and has demonstrated large-capacity transmission at a data-rate of 1.7 petabits per second over a distance of 63.5 km. A randomly coupled multi-core fiber design was used to achieve high core density, as well as a multiple input multiple output (MIMO) digital signal processing to eliminate inter-core signal interference.

Tokyo, March 24, 2023 - A consortium of joint research partners including RIKEN, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT), Osaka University, Fujitsu Limited (Fujitsu) and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT) announced the successful development of Japan’s first superconducting(1) quantum computer(2). Starting March 27, 2023, the partners will provide the newly developed technology to users in Japan as a cloud service for non-incommercial use under a joint research agreement with RIKEN.

Dr. Masataka Higashiwaki (Director of Green ICT Device Laboratory, Koganei Frontier Research Center, Advanced ICT Research Institute) was elevated to be a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) in class of 2023, which is the highest grade of membership. His citation is “for contributions to gallium oxide electronics and millimeter-wave gallium nitride transistors”.

Toshiba Corporation, Tohoku University Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (ToMMo), Tohoku University Hospital, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have demonstrated the world's first personalized healthcare system that stores genome data from many individuals in multiple locations and utilizes them for medical treatment and healthcare using an information theoretically secure method based on the quantum key distribution (QKD) link, the secret sharing system and personal authentication technology.

NICT has hosted the ASEAN IVO Forum 2022 in Thailand, which has been jointly sponsored by the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), and Chulalongkorn University, was held at said university, with approximately 140 participants, including online participants. ASEAN IVO is a virtual organisation of ASEAN universities and research institutes formed with NICT in February 2015 with the goal of promoting ICT based solutions to the United Nations’ sustainable development goals. The Forum, which is a place to share ideas for solutions to shared societal issues in the ASEAN region and report the results of joint projects, is hosted in an ASEAN country every year with the aim of promoting ICT research and development in the region.

A group of researchers from the Network Research Institute of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) led by Ruben Soares Lu?s, in collaboration with the University of L'Aquila (Italy), Heinrich-Hertz-Institute, Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications (HHI, Germany), Finisar Australia (Australia), Prysmian Group (Italy, Holland, France), and Nokia Bell Labs (Bell Labs, USA) achieved the first demonstration of a field deployed 15-mode optical fiber network, equivalent to 15 parallel fiber networks using a single fiber installed in the city of L’Aquila, Italy.

A group of researchers from the Network Research Institute of the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, Japan) led by Georg Rademacher in collaboration with Nokia Bell Labs (USA), Prysmian Group (Prysmian, France, and the Netherlands), and the University of Queensland (Australia) succeeded in the world's first large-capacity transmission experiment with large mode multiplexing technology using 55 modes.

Tokyo - October 24, 2022 -Toppan (TYO: 7911), a global leader in communication, security, packaging, décor materials, and electronics solutions, and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) have developed PQC CARD®, the world’s first smart card equipped with post-quantum cryptography,1 which is difficult for even a quantum computer to crack. The organizations have also successfully confirmed effectiveness by applying PQC CARD® to control access to H-LINCOS,2　a system for the secure long-term storage and exchange of healthcare data.

Quantum computers, which are currently under development, are expected to have a major impact on society. Their benefits include reducing the environmental burden by reducing energy consumption, finding new chemical substances for medical use, accelerating the search for materials for a cleaner environment, etc.

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) has successfully developed a highly efficient optical modulator using the organic electro-optic polymer (hereinafter referred to as EO polymer) for visible light. Conventional EO polymer optical modulators could operate in near-infrared light (wavelength 1,550 nm, etc.), but they couldn’t be used for visible light (wavelength 380 nm to 780 nm) because of the large absorption loss at visible light. NICT has developed an EO polymer which has small absorption loss in visible light and a large electro-optic coefficient required for the optical modulator. We fabricated an optical modulator using this EO polymer by microfabrication technology and operated the optical modulator in visible light (red, wavelength 640 nm). The demonstrated optical modulator for visible light is smaller and more efficient than the conventional EO polymer optical modulator for near-infrared light.

The National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, president: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) is the first in the world to generate standard time referenced to an optical clock. By adjusting the time interval (the effective duration of the second) to match that generated by an intermittently operated optical lattice clock, the difference between the time generated at NICT and Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is reduced to less than five billionth of a second. This is less than a quarter of the previous difference, which could reach up to 20 billionth of a second.

Japan Radio Co., Ltd. (Representative Director and President: Takeshi Koarai, hereinafter JRC), SKY Perfect JSAT Corporation (President & Chief Executive Officer: Eiichi Yonekura, hereinafter SKY Perfect JSAT), and the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (President: Hideyuki Tokuda, Ph.D., hereinafter NICT) jointly worked to conduct a Japan-Europe joint experiment for connecting satellite and 5G, including Japan-Europe long-distance network. Successful transmission of 5G control-plane signal, 4K video, and IoT data was achieved in January and February of 2022 for the first time in Japan. This experiment was conducted in collaboration with the University of Tokyo, School of Engineering, Nakao Research Laboratory, the European Space Agency (ESA), Eurescom GmbH, and Fraunhofer FOKUS Institute. This joint experiment shows that 5G communications can be established over long-distance links between Japan and Europe, including satellite links, and be expected to lead to the early spread of 5G networks in places where 5G deployment has been difficult, such as in the sky, at sea, or on remote islands.

Researchers from the Network Research Institute at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: TOKUDA Hideyuki, Ph.D.) report the world's first demonstration of more than 1 petabit per second in a multi-core fiber (MCF) with a standard diameter of 0.125 mm. The researchers, led by Benjamin J. Puttnam, constructed a transmission system that supports a record optical bandwidth exceeding 20 THz by exploiting wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) technology.