The new mainstream in solid state components

Around that time, the camera maker to whom we were supplying CdS cells asked us to develop a silicon photodiode for use with cameras, saying that, as semiconductor components, these photodiodes offered better measurement accuracy and response characteristics than CdS cells. Silicon photodiodes were viewed as very promising at the time as sensors for camera exposure meters and measuring instruments. We got off to a late start in that field, but we drew on the knowhow and the sales channels that we had built up through our electron tube development and manufacturing, and silicon photodiodes later grew to be one of the main products of our Solid State Division.

Taking on the challenge of the 1,000,000,000,000,000th of a second

A thousand-trillionths of a second is called a femtosecond. One femtosecond is a tiny interval of time in which even light, which makes seven and a half circuits around the earth per second, only advances 0.0003 meters. It’s said that the natural world is formed as a result of the phenomena taking place during these nearly instantaneous periods of time, or from reactions to those phenomena. In other words, in order to explain the world of nature, we need to clarify the phenomena that happen during these minuscule intervals of time. The streak tube is what makes it possible to capture these super-high speed phenomena.

Opening up new borders through connections with computers

Microcomputers first came out on the market in 1971, and spread like lightning. Hamamatsu Photonics was among the first to break new ground in television cameras for computers. Computers made complex image processing possible, and the range of applications in various fields broadened. Today’s system products are the next stage in the progression resulting from the combination of computers and TV cameras.