In 1928, Kikuchi and Shoji Nishikawa observed and gave a theoretical explanation of the electron backscatter diffraction pattern from a calcite cleavage face. In 1929, he went to Germany as a student and stayed at the University of Göttingen and Leipzig University. In 1934, he was appointed as professor at Osaka Imperial University and directed the construction of Japan's first DC high voltage Cockcroft-Walton accelerator.