Dispersion-controlled slow light in photonic crystal waveguides
Toshihiko BABA, Jun ADACHI, Norihiro ISHIKURA, Yohei HAMACHI, Hirokazu SASAKI, Takashi KAWASAKI and Daisuke MORI

Extension of frequencies from maser to laser. How the laser evolved and was extended to terahertz during my research life —A personal review
Jun-ichi NISHIZAWA

Electrical conductivity of orthopyroxene: Implications for the water content of the asthenosphere
Lidong DAI and Shun-ichiro KARATO

Heterogeneous electrical structure of Kozu-shima volcanic island, Japan
Yoshiaki ORIHARA, Masashi KAMOGAWA, Toshiyasu NAGAO and Seiya UYEDA

Development of newly designed VHF interferometer system for observing earthquake-related atmospheric anomalies
Isao YAMAMOTO, Hironobu FUJIWARA, Masashi KAMOGAWA, Atsushi IYONO, Valeri KROUMOV and Takashi AZAKAMI

Recombinant α-actin for specific fluorescent labeling
Atsuko H. IWANE, Masatoshi MORIMATSU and Toshio YANAGIDA

Mechanism of cadmium induced crystal defects in developing rat tooth enamel
Mitsuo KAKEI, Toshiro SAKAE and Masayoshi YOSHIKAWA

　In 1963 Jun-ichi Nishizawa predicted coherent terahertz electromagnetic wave generation via the resonance of phonons and molecular vibrations. In 1980 Nishizawa and Suto, following this proposal, developed and realized a semiconductor Raman laser using a GaP crystal, from which a terahertz (THz) wave was actually generated. Recently, they constructed a THz generator with automatic scanning control, which made it possible to measure spectral shapes of various organic molecules in a very wide frequency range (0.8 – 5.4 THz). The illustration shows absorption spectra of five nucleobases which constitute DNA and RNA. Marked differences are revealed among these molecules in the wide frequency range. Taken from a review article of J. Nishizawa in this issue pp. 454-465.