Sunao Kurimura received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Physics from Waseda University and his Ph.D. in Engineering. He began his professional career as a researcher at Fujitsu Laboratories and served as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) research fellow (DC/PD) and a visiting scholar at Stanford University in 1997-1999. He was an assistant professor at the Institute for Molecular Science in 1999-2001, and currently works at the National Institute for Materials Science. His work focuses on nonlinear optical devices and materials, optical waveguides, and quantum light control. He is also a visiting professor at Kyushu University and Keio University, an advisor for Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology (PREST) program by Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), and an ex-board member for the Japan Society of Applied Physics (JSAP). He has held numerous leadership roles in academic societies and is a co-founder of the photonics venture SWING Inc. He is a fellow of OPTICA, the Laser Society of Japan, and JSAP. He has authored and supervised several technical books in the field of photonics.

Tetsuya Yagi received his B.E. and M.Eng. degrees from Osaka University and his Ph.D. degree in applied physics from Osaka City University (now Osaka Metropolitan University) in 1982, 1984 and 2003, respectively.  He joined Mitsubishi Electric Corporation in 1984, and moved to Nichia Corporation in 2020.  Throughout his time at Mitsubishi and Nichia, he has been involved in the research and development of GaAs-based laser diodes.  He is also a visiting professor at Osaka University.  Currently, his main topic is the high-power red lasers for display and lighting applications.  He has served as the program committee co-chair for the Laser Display and Lighting Conference (DLC) for 10 years.