Jaw-Shen Tsai (; born February 8, 1952) is a Taiwan-born American physicist specializing in low-temperature solid-state physics. He is known for pioneering research on superconducting qubits and their quantum control. In 1999, he, Yasunobu Nakamura, and their colleagues achieved the first demonstration of qubit operation in a superconducting circuit.
He has conducted research at NEC and RIKEN, and was appointed a professor at the Tokyo University of Science in 2015 and a chair professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in 2025.
Early life and education Tsai was born in Taipei, Taiwan, on February 8, 1952. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1975 and a PhD in physics from Stony Brook University in 1983.
Career In 1983, Tsai became a research scientist at NEC's Microelectronics Research Laboratories. He subsequently held positions as a fellow at the company's Fundamental Research Laboratories and Nano Electronics Research Laboratories.
In 2001, he took on a concurrent appointment as team leader of RIKEN's Macroscopic Quantum Coherence Team. His later positions at RIKEN included group director of the Single Quantum Dynamics Research Group and team leader of the Superconducting Quantum Simulation Research Team.
He was appointed a professor at the Tokyo University of Science in 2015 and a chair professor at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in 2025.
Research In 1999, Tsai, Yasunobu Nakamura, and Yu. A. Pashkin observed quantum oscillations in a small superconducting circuit known as a Cooper-pair box, demonstrating electrical control of a qubit in a solid-state electronic device. The results were published in Nature.
In 2003, Tsai and collaborators observed quantum oscillations in two coupled superconducting charge qubits. In a separate study published that year, Tsai and collaborators demonstrated conditional gate operation using two superconducting charge qubits.
His research has also included the generation and detection of single microwave photons using superconducting quantum circuits. The Japan Academy has recognized Nakamura and Tsai's work as a pioneering contribution to the development of superconducting quantum computing.
Honors and awards 2000: Fellow, American Physical Society 2004: Nishina Memorial Prize 2007: Honorary Professor, National Chiao Tung University 2008: Simon Memorial Prize (with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2010: Fellow, Japan Society of Applied Physics 2013: Quantum Innovator Award 2014: The 11th (with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2018: Medal with Purple Ribbon 2021: Asahi Prize (for fiscal year 2020, with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2023: Japan Academy Prize (with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2023: (with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2023: C&C Prize (with Yasunobu Nakamura) 2024: Asian Scientist 100, Asian Scientist 2024: Elected a member of Academia Sinica
References
External links
RIKEN Center for Quantum Computing Tsai Laboratory at Tokyo University of Science Faculty profile at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University