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Dr. Yoichi Miyahara

  • Associate Professor - Physics
Portrait of Dr. Yoichi Miyahara

Biography and education

Dr. Yoichi Miyahara joined the department of physics, Texas State University in January, 2019 as an assistant professor. He is an experimental physicist with electrical and mechanical engineering background. He obtained his Ph.D. in electrical engineering at Waseda University in Tokyo where he worked on the synthesis and tunneling spectroscopy/scanning tunneling microscopy of various transition metal dichalcogenides. He then worked in the department of microengineering at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland as a research staff where he developed atomic force microscopes which was specifically designed for nanometer scale metrological dimensional measurements. During that period, he was exposed to various aspects of mechatronics instrumentation ranging from optical interferometry to active magnetic control. After he joined the department of physics at McGill University in Montreal as a research associate, he started to work on the development and applications of advanced scanning probe microscopy techniques that are geared toward material property characterization in nanometer scale such as quantum dots, nanoparticles, nanowires and novel energy materials. His research group is currently working on developing new spectroscopic material characterization techniques with nanometer scale spatial resolution based on mechanical detection of relevant signals such as mechanically detected vibrational spectroscopy and electrometry with ultra-high sensitivity.

Research Interests

  • Piner, Edwin L (Principal), Haque, Ariful (Co-Principal), Valles Molina, Damian (Co-Principal), Miyahara, Yoichi (Co-Principal), Droopad, Ravindranath (Supporting), Holtz, Mark W (Supporting), Scolfaro, Luisa M (Supporting), Miller, David R von (Supporting), Ahmed, Mohammad Iqbal (Supporting). Center for Ultrawide Bandgap Semiconductor Device Materials, National Science Foundation, Federal, $7500000. (Submitted: December 6, 2024, Funded: September 1, 2025 - August 31, 2029). Grant.
  • Haque, Ariful, Droopad, Ravindranath, Holtz, Mark W, Piner, Edwin L, Geerts, Wilhelmus J, Chen, Yihong, Hudnall, Todd W, Wistey, Mark A, Miyahara, Yoichi, Smith, Casey Eben, Mahato, Dip Narayan, Rastogi, Shiva Kumar, Kim, Namwon. Acquisition of a state-of-the-art Photoluminescence Spectrometer for Materials Characterization in Research and Education, Department of Defense, Federal, $434519. (Submitted: September 2023, Funded: 2024 - 2025). Grant.
  • Miyahara, Yoichi (Principal), Satchell, Nathan David (Co-Principal), Holtz, Mark W (Co-Principal), Kim, Namwon (Co-Principal), Martin, Benjamin (Co-Principal), Chen, Yihong (Supporting), Theodoropoulou, Nikoleta (Supporting), Geerts, Wilhelmus J (Supporting), Piner, Edwin L (Supporting), Haque, Ariful (Supporting), Droopad, Ravindranath (Supporting), Mahato, Dip Narayan (Supporting), Smith, Casey Eben (Supporting). MRI: Track 1 Acquisition of state-of-the-art lithography system for micro/nanometer scale device fabrication in research and education, National Science Foundation, Federal, $569780. (Submitted: November 14, 2023, Funded: September 1, 2024 - August 31, 2027). Grant.
  • Miyahara, Yoichi. MRI:Development of a scanning single-electron box electrometer microscope for studying quantum electronic devices and quantum materials, National Science Foundation, Federal, $420000. (Submitted: January 19, 2021, Funded: September 1, 2021 - August 31, 2023). Grant.
  • Betancourt, Tania (Principal), Brittain, William J (Co-Principal), Irvin, Jennifer A (Co-Principal), Theodoropoulou, Nikoleta (Co-Principal), Martin, Benjamin (Co-Principal), Rhodes, Christopher Peter (Co-Principal), Wistey, Mark A (Co-Principal), Miyahara, Yoichi (Co-Principal), Kerwin, Sean Michael (Co-Principal). TxState-UT PREM Center for Intelligent Materials Assembly (CIMA), National Science Foundation, Federal, $3822000. (Funded: July 1, 2021 - June 30, 2027). Grant.
View all grants
  • Miyahara, Y., Kim, D. S., Xiao, C., Dominguez, R. C., Lee, K., Mayorga-Luna, R., … Li, X. (2025). Moiré ferroelectricity modulates light emission from a semiconductor monolayer. Science Advances, 11(19), eaddt7789. Retrieved from https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.adt7789
  • Austin-Bingamon, N. L., D.C., B., & Miyahara, Y. (2024). Control of quality factor of atomic force microscopy cantilever by optomechanical effects. The Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 63(4), 04SP84. https://doi.org/10.35848/1347-4065/ad39f6
  • Kim, D. S., Dominguez, R. C., Mayorga-Luna, R., Ye, D., Embley, J., Tan, T., … Miyahara, Y. (2023). Electrostatic  moiré potential from twisted hexagonal boron nitride layers. Nature Materials, 23(1), 65–70. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-023-01637-7
  • Schumacher, Z., Rejali, R., Cowie, M., Spielhofer, A., Miyahara, Y., & Grutter, P. (2021). Charge carrier inversion in a doped thin film organic semiconductor island. ACS Nano, 15(6), 10377. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.1c02600
  • Schumacher, Z., Rejali, R., Pachlatko, R., Spielhofer, A., Nagler, P., Miyahara, Y., … Grutter, Peter. (2020). Nanoscale Force Sensing of an Ultrafast Nonlinear Optical Response. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 117(33), 19773. https://doi.org/10/ghdqg8
View all scholarly/creative works
  • Award / Honor Nominee: 2023 Presidential Distinction for Excellence in Scholary/Creative Activities, Texas State University. February 2023 - Present
  • Award / Honor Recipient: CAREER Award, National Science Foundation. February 2021 - January 2026
  1. Member

    COSE Semiconductor device faculty search commitee

  2. Member

    MSEC Student Review Ad Hoc commitee

  3. Graduate Advisor

    Texas State University, Department of Physics

  4. Member

    Department of Physics liaison to shared research operation

  5. Member

    Programming committee, The 26th International Conference on Non-contact Atomic Force Microscopy

  6. Reviewer / Referee

    Japanese Journal of Applied Physics

  7. View all activities