In April 2024, we interviewed Lecturer Yuki Tokumoto and Professor Kazuo Goda of Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, and published articles introducing their respective research in June and July. This time, we are treating our readers to a cross-talk featuring Tokumoto and Goda. What did Tokumoto and Goda, two researchers involved in the completely different fields of solid state physics and computers, learn about the other’s work and what were their respective impressions? Join us for their in-depth and energetic dialogue.

Solids can be divided into three groups depending on their structure. Crystalline solids have atoms that have a periodic arrangement. Amorphous solids have atoms that are arranged with no definite form. And, lastly, quasicrystals, which differ from either of these two groups. Among these, we have only come to know about the existence of quasicrystals relatively recently, and their properties are still not well known. While researching a quasicrystal categorized as van der Waals layered quasicrystals, Yuki Tokumoto, Lecturer at the Institute of Industrial Science, The University of Tokyo, discovered that the quasicrystal have superconductivity. We spoke with Tokumoto about the meaning of this world’s-first discovery and expectations for future development.