Research
I am an experimental particle physicist interesting on the fundamental building blocks of the universe. Broad range researches from underground detector to colliders have been pursued. Currently, I am responsible for dark matter search group of the center for underground physics at Institute for Basics Science and lead KIMS (Korea Invisible Mass Search) and COSINE dark matter search experiments that are running at Yangyang underground laboratory. I am also a member of CDF collaboration of Tevatron at Fermilab, which was shutdown at 2011, and of AMoRE neutrinoless double beta decay experiment. See the details of my research from CV (March 2018). If you are interesting on any of research topic and want to work with me, please do not hesitate to contact me.
COSINE is a dark matter search experiment aiming to test DAMA collaboration's claim of an observation of dark matter signal with low-background thallium-doped sodium iodide detectors. Currently, COSINE-100 is running at the Yangyang underground laboratory with same sodium iodide detectors. Active research and development for better quality detector and for the next phase COSINE-200 are on the way.
Related R&D works but, to have competitive sensitivity for low-mass dark matter with NaI(Tl) crystals is started.
AMoRE (Advanced Mo-based Rare Event searches) experiment aims to search for 0νββ decay of 100Mo nuclei using molybdate scintillating crystals operating at milli-Kelvin temperatures. The ultimate goal of the experiment is to achieve a sensitivity of the inverted neutrino mass hierachy. The first phase AMoRE-pilot is running since 2015 with about 1.5 kg of CaMoO4 crystals at Yangyang underground laboratory. AMoRE-I will be started at the end of 2018 with approximately 10 kg of crystals. AMoRE-II is planned to be started from 2021 in new underground laboratory in Korea at Jeongseon area that is currently under construction. AMoRE-II will start with approximately 70 kg detectors and eventually upgraded to 200 kg detectors.
CDF (Collider Detector at Fermilab) is an experiment at Fermilab which studies high energy proton-antiproton collisions from data collected through 2011 from the Tevatron. The Tevatron accelerated protons and antiprotons close to the speed of light, made them collide head-on inside the CDF detector and we study the products of such collisions. My contributions were mainly understanding of the heaviest elementary particle, top-quark, from its mass to few properties.