Shuji Nakamura
Shuji Nakamura (Japanese中 村 修 二Nakamura Shuji; May 22nd, 1954 in Seto, Ehime, Japan) is a Japanese physicist and developer of the first blue light emitting diode (LED). He is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Life and work
Nakamura studied at the University of Tokushima and earned his bachelor's there first in 1977 and finally in 1979 the degree of Master's degree in Electrical Engineering. After graduation, he remained in Tokushima and worked for the company Nichia. From 1993, Nakamura was head of research at Nichia.
During his time at Nichia Nakamura developed the first very bright gallium nitride light-emitting diode, which has the advantage of emitting blue light. Since 1993, these LEDs are produced. 1994 he was awarded a doctorate from the University of Tokushima. In addition to the blue GaN LED Nakamura developed the green indium gallium nitride light-emitting diode ( InGaN LEDs) and finally a white LED. The mid-1990s he also developed a blue laser.
Nakamura left Japan in 1999 and took a job as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara.
2001 Nakamura sued his former employer Nichia. His premium for the development of GaN - LED of 20,000 yen (about 150 euros ) seemed inappropriate. Nakamura demanded 20 billion yen ( 150 million euros ) and won first. After Nichia had gone in appeal, the two parties agreed to a bonus of 840 million yen ( € 6 million ), the highest premium ever paid in Japan.
Since 2004, Nakamura is an honorary professor at the University of Bremen.
Publications
- Shuji Nakamura, Gerhard Fasol, Stephen J. Pearton: The Blue Laser Diode: The Complete Story. Springer, 2000, ISBN 3-540-66505-6.
- Shuji Nakamura, Gerhard Fasol: The blue laser diode - GaN light emitters and lasers. Springer, 1997, ISBN 3-540-61590-3.
Awards
In 2000, he received the Carl Zeiss Research Award. In 2006 he was awarded the Millennium Technology Prize.
References and sources
- Information about Nakamura and its developments (English )