Dr. Shigeyuki Akiba completed his master’s course at Graduate School, Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1976 before joining Kokusai Denshin Denwa Co., Ltd. (KDD, now KDDI). He studied optical communications at KDD Research Laboratory and received a doctoral degree for this research from Tokyo Institute of Technology in 1984. From 1988 through 1990, he was on secondment to International Telecommunications Satellite Organization (INTELSAT). Dr. Akiba returned to KDD and subsequently became President and CEO of KDD Research Laboratories, Inc. (2000), President and CEO of KDDI Submarine Cable System, Inc. (2002), and President and CEO of KDDI R&D Laboratories, Inc. (2005). Concurrently with the latter position, he became an executive director of KDDI in 2006. In 2011, he became both a Managing Director of KDDI R&D Labs. and a Coordinate Professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology. Since 2015, he has been Director of the Collaborative Research Center on Happiness Co-creation Society through “Ishin-Denshin” Intelligent Communications at Tokyo Institute of Technology.After joining KDD, Dr. Akiba intensively studied a single-wavelength semiconductor laser for use in long-distance optical fiber transmission. In 1979, he was the first to succeed in achieving room temperature continuous oscillation of a semiconductor laser in the 1.55 μm wavelength band, in which optical fiber loss is the smallest. Thus, he played a trailblazing role in R&D of semiconductor lasers and laid the foundation for today’s optical communications. The result was used in many commercial high-capacity wavelength multiplexing transmission systems, including the world’s first 1.55 μm wavelength band transoceanic optical submarine cable system (4th trans-Pacific optical submarine cable). It has contributed significantly to the realization of broadband core optical networks in recent years.
Dr. Akiba also studied how to increase the capacity of optical submarine cables, and contributed to the development of the 5th trans-Pacific optical submarine cable, which was the first trans-Pacific cable using optical amplification repeaters. He was also the first to succeed in using low-noise optical amplifiers and low-non-linear optical fiber to develop a super-high-capacity wavelength multiplexing optical submarine cable operating at a range of 1 terabit per second. The developed technology was subsequently used in a number of trans-Pacific, trans-Atlantic and intra-Asia optical submarine cables. His outstanding achievements span from construction of global high-capacity international communication networks, strong international competitiveness of the domestic technology as exemplified by the first provision of all the segments of the trans-Atlantic cable, to dramatic increase of the optical submarine cable capacity by about 1,700 times over a period of 10 years. Thus, his achievements as a true innovator range from design through commercial introduction of optical submarine cable devices and systems.
Dr. Akiba contributed to IEICE by serving as chair of the Optoelectronics Technical Committee in 2000, vice president of the Electronics Society in 2003, director of finance in 2008, and vice chair of the Institute in 2012. He also served as chair of organizing committees or program committees for international conferences in the optical communication field, including chair of the steering committee of Opto-Electronics and Communications Conference 2000 (OECC2000). Through his services explained above, he has made noticeable achievements for enhancement of the IEICE’s status and for international cooperation. In addition, he has contributed to development of the electronics, information and communication fields by serving a number of important posts, such as membership of the Research Committee of the Information and Communication Policy Bureau, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications.
For the achievements mentioned above, Dr. Akiba received the Medal with Purple Ribbon, the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award, and the Maejima Award. He also received the Young Researcher’s Award, the Paper Award, the Achievement Award, and the Distinguished Achievement and Contributions Award from the IEICE. He is a fellow of both the IEICE and the IEEE.
As described above, his contributions to development of the electronics, information and communication fields, including optical communications, are outstanding, and we confidently recommend that he be designated a fellow, honorary member of the IEICE.
