arXiv subjects

Masato Kato

Publications and source records attributed to Masato Kato.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Millimeter-wave adaptive optics: Demonstrating closed-loop correction for lowest Zernike modes

We report on a five-element prototype wavefront sensor for millimeter-wave adaptive optics (MAO), enabling closed-loop correction of tip-tilt and defocus via secondary mirror (M2) displacement. MAO is essential for large ground-based millimeter/submillimeter telescopes to maintain surface accuracy under wind and thermal distortions. Our sensor, based on radio interferometry, measures excess path lengths from the primary mirror to a focal-plane receiver. A previous two-element prototype achieved < 10 um accuracy at the Nobeyama 45 m telescope. The new five-element system, operating at 20 GHz, was installed on the same telescope. A ``Moon-edge'' experiment confirmed detection of wavefront gradients through strong correlation with continuum flux. Implementing a PI controller closed the sensor-M2 loop, stably suppressing the lowest Zernike modes. This approach establishes a foundation for metrology in future large-aperture submillimeter facilities such as AtLAST/LST.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

FINER: development of the wideband millimeter-wave receiver system and preparations for first light on the Large Millimeter Telescope

The recent discovery of an excess of luminous galaxies in the early Universe necessitates sensitive and wideband millimeter spectroscopy to understand their rapid growth. To address this, we present the development of the Far-Infrared Nebular Emission Receiver (FINER) for the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT). The FINER frontend comprises two receivers covering 120-350 GHz (corresponding to ALMA Bands 4+5 and 6+7). The warm optics are designed to enable simultaneous two-band observations. Combined with the 10.24-GHz-wide digital spectrometer array, the system aims to deliver an instantaneous bandwidth approximately five times wider than current ALMA capabilities. We report that the 210-350 GHz receiver has already achieved commissioning-level performance, with sideband rejection further enhanced by the digital sideband separation technique. With installation expected in 2026, we discuss parallel preparations, including integrated testing and commissioning plans for first-look targets.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2026

A Wideband Millimeter-wave Receiver at 210-350 GHz for LMT-FINER

The Far-Infrared Nebular Emission Receiver (FINER) project is developing two wideband dual-polarization sideband-separating receivers covering 120-210 GHz and 210-350 GHz to efficiently identify high-redshift galaxy candidates in the early universe. Based on high-critical-current-density superconductor-insulator-superconductor mixer technology originally developed for the ALMA wideband sensitivity upgrade, the FINER receivers are designed to provide an intermediate-frequency bandwidth of 3-21 GHz per sideband and per polarization, approximately five times wider than the current ALMA specifications. After installation on the Large Millimeter Telescope, these receivers are expected to offer highly efficient spectral-scanning capability among (sub)millimeterwave facilities in the northern-hemisphere. This paper reports the initial laboratory characterization of the 210-350 GHz receiver. The measured single sideband receiver noise temperature is approximately 100 K over most of the radio-frequency band. Digital sideband separation was also demonstrated using a wideband spectrometer array (DRS4), achieving an image rejection ratio of around 20 dB in the initial tests. These results represent an important step toward the realization of a wideband spectral-scanning receiver system for FINER.

astro-ph.IM↗

arXiv2024

Dominating Set Reconfiguration with Answer Set Programming

The dominating set reconfiguration problem is defined as determining, for a given dominating set problem and two among its feasible solutions, whether one is reachable from the other via a sequence of feasible solutions subject to a certain adjacency relation. This problem is PSPACE-complete in general. The concept of the dominating set is known to be quite useful for analyzing wireless networks, social networks, and sensor networks. We develop an approach to solve the dominating set reconfiguration problem based on Answer Set Programming (ASP). Our declarative approach relies on a high-level ASP encoding, and both the grounding and solving tasks are delegated to an ASP-based combinatorial reconfiguration solver. To evaluate the effectiveness of our approach, we conduct experiments on a newly created benchmark set.

cs.AI↗

arXiv2019

Giant oscillator strength in the band-edge light absorption of zincblende, chalcopyrite and kesterite solar cell materials

In semiconducting solar-cell absorbers, high absorption coefficient (alpha) near the band-edge region is critical to maximize the photocurrent generation and collection. Nevertheless, despite the importance of the band-edge absorption characteristics, the quantitative analysis of the band-edge optical transitions has not been performed. In this study, we have implemented systematic density functional theory (DFT) calculation, focusing on the band-edge oscillator strength of seven practical solar cell absorbers (GaAs, InP, CdTe, CuInSe2, CuGaSe2, Cu2ZnSnSe4, and Cu2ZnSnS4) with zincblende, chalcopyrite and kesterite structures. We find that all these crystals exhibit the giant oscillator strength near the band gap region, revealing the fact that alpha in the band gap region is enhanced significantly by the anomalous high oscillator strength. In high-energy optical transitions, however, the oscillator strength reduces sharply and the absorption properties are determined primarily by the joint density-of-state contribution. Based on DFT results, we show that the giant oscillator strength in the band edge region originates from a unique tetrahedral-bonding structure, with a negligible effect of constituent atoms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Tail state formation in solar cell materials: First principles analyses of zincblende, chalcopyrite, kesterite and hybrid perovskite crystals

Tail state formation in solar cell absorbers leads to a detrimental effect on solar cell performance. Nevertheless, the characterization of the band tailing in experimental semiconductor crystals is generally difficult. In this article, to determine the tail state generation in various solar cell materials, we have developed a quite general theoretical scheme in which the experimental Urbach energy is compared with the absorption edge energy derived from density functional theory (DFT) calculation. For this purpose, the absorption spectra of solar cell materials, including CdTe, CuInSe2 (CISe), CuGaSe2 (CGSe), Cu2ZnSnSe4 (CZTSe), Cu2ZnSnS4 (CZTS) and hybrid perovskites, have been calculated by DFT particularly using very-high-density k meshes. As a result, we find that the tail state formation is negligible in CdTe, CISe, CGSe and hybrid perovskite polycrystals. However, coevaporated CZTSe and CZTS layers exhibit very large Urbach energies, which are far larger than the theoretical counterparts. Based on DFT analysis results, we conclude that the quite large tail state formation observed in the CZTSe and CZTS originates from extensive cation disordering. In particular, even a slight cation substitution is found to generate unusual band fluctuation in CZT(S)Se. In contrast, CH3NH3PbI3 hybrid perovskite shows the sharpest absorption edge theoretically, which agrees with experiment.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Universal rules for visible-light absorption in hybrid perovskite materials

A variety of organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites (APbX3) consisting of mixed center cations [A = CH3NH3+, HC(NH2)2+, Cs+] with different PbX3- cages (X = I, Br, Cl) have been developed to realize high-efficiency solar cells. Nevertheless, clear understanding for the effects of A and X on the optical transition has been lacking. Here, we present universal rules that allow the unified interpretation of the optical absorption in various hybrid perovskites. In particular, we find that the influence of the A-site cation on the light absorption is rather significant and the absorption coefficient (alpha) reduces to half when CH3NH3+ is replaced with HC(NH2)2+ in the APbI3 system. Our density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce all of the fine absorption features observed in HC(NH2)2PbI3 and CH3NH3PbBr3, allowing the unique assignment of the interband transitions in the Brillouin zone. In contrast to general understanding that the A-site cation involves weakly in the optical process, our theoretical calculations reveal that the center cation plays a critical role in the interband transition and the absorption strength in the visible region is modified by the strong A-X interaction. Furthermore, our systematic analyses show that the variation of the absorption spectrum with X can be described simply by the well-known sum rule. The universal rules established in this study explain the large reduction of alpha in HC(NH2)2PbI3 and predict CsPbI3 as the highest alpha material.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Degradation mechanism of CH3NH3PbI3 perovskite materials upon exposure to humid air

Low stability of organic-inorganic perovskite (CH3NH3PbI3) solar cells in humid air environments is a serious drawback which could limit practical application of this material severely. In this study, from real-time spectroscopic ellipsometry characterization, the degradation mechanism of ultra-smooth CH3NH3PbI3 layers prepared by a laser evaporation technique is studied. We present evidence that the CH3NH3PbI3 degradation in humid air proceeds by two competing reactions of (i) the PbI2 formation by the desorption of CH3NH3I species and (ii) the generation of a CH3NH3PbI3 hydrate phase by H2O incorporation. In particular, rapid phase change occurs in the near-surface region and the CH3NH3PbI3 layer thickness reduces rapidly in the initial 1-h air exposure even at a low relative humidity of 40%. After the prolonged air exposure, the CH3NH3PbI3 layer is converted completely to hexagonal platelet PbI2/hydrate crystals that have a distinct atomic-scale multilayer structure with a period of 0.65 nm. We find that conventional x-ray diffraction and optical characterization in the visible region, used commonly in earlier works, are quite insensitive to the surface phase change. Based on results obtained in this work, we discuss the degradation mechanism of CH3NH3PbI3 in humid air.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Optical transitions in hybrid perovskite solar cells: Ellipsometry, density functional theory, and quantum efficiency analyses for CH3NH3PbI3

We report artifact-free CH3NH3PbI3 optical constants extracted from ultra-smooth perovskite layers without air exposure and assign all the optical transitions in the visible/ultraviolet region unambiguously based on density functional theory (DFT) analysis that assumes a simple pseudo-cubic crystal structure. From the self-consistent spectroscopic ellipsometry analysis of the ultra-smooth CH3NH3PbI3 layers, we find that the absorption coefficients of CH3NH3PbI3 (alpha = 3.8 x 10^4 cm-1 at 2.0 eV) are comparable to those of CuInGaSe2 and CdTe, and high alpha values reported in earlier studies are overestimated seriously by extensive surface roughness of CH3NH3PbI3 layers. The polarization-dependent DFT calculations show that CH3NH3+ interacts strongly with the PbI3- cage, modifying the CH3NH3PbI3 dielectric function in the visible region rather significantly. When the effect of CH3NH3+ on the optical transition is eliminated in the DFT calculation, CH3NH3PbI3 dielectric function deduced from DFT shows excellent agreement with the experimental result. As a result, distinct optical transitions observed at E0 (Eg) = 1.61 eV, E1 = 2.53 eV, and E2 = 3.24 eV in CH3NH3PbI3 are attributed to the direct semiconductor-type transitions at the R, M, and X points in the pseudo-cubic Brillouin zone, respectively. We further perform the quantum efficiency (QE) analysis for a standard hybrid-perovskite solar cell incorporating a mesoporous TiO2 layer and demonstrate that the QE spectrum can be reproduced almost perfectly when the revised CH3NH3PbI3 optical constants are employed. Depth-resolved QE simulations confirm that Jsc is limited by the material's longer wavelength response and indicate the importance of optical confinement and long carrier diffusion lengths in hybrid perovskite solar cells.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗