October Scientist of the Month, Professor Kim Jeongwon Who Developed Pulse Flight Time Sensor

[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Hwang] Professor Jungwon Kim of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), who developed an ultra-fast, ultra-precise, multifunctional pulse time-of-flight sensor, has been selected as the Scientist of the Month.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 7th that Professor Kim was chosen as the recipient of the Scientist of the Month Award and will be presented with the Minister’s Award and a prize of 10 million KRW.

Professor Kim discovered that the time difference between the light pulse generated by a laser and the current pulse generated by a photodiode is less than 100 attoseconds (one ten quadrillionth of a second), and developed an innovative time-of-flight (TOF) sensor capable of measuring multiple points simultaneously.

Time-of-flight measures the time it takes for a light pulse (a regular wave) to hit the target, reflect, and return, then calculates the distance to the target using the speed of light. The sensor developed by the research team can measure differences smaller than 1 nanometer (nm, one billionth of a meter) within a 1 cm range in 1/20,000 of a second. The research results were published in Nature Photonics.

The sensor developed by the research team can be applied to various advanced sensors that measure ultra-precise 3D shapes and high-speed mechanical movements for the development of advanced materials, parts, and equipment. It can be used for real-time monitoring of critical facilities such as nuclear power plants, sensitive detection of earth environmental changes such as seismic waves, tidal changes, and magma flow, and remote sensing of flying objects such as drones.

The Ministry of Science and ICT selected Professor Jungwon Kim in celebration of "Measurement Day" on the 26th of this month, commemorating King Sejong’s establishment of measurement systems for length and volume.

Professor Kim stated, "This research developed ultra-precise measurement technology capable of implementing a multi-point, multifunctional composite sensor network system," adding, "It is expected to be utilized in new and diverse mechanical and manufacturing fields such as exploring dynamic phenomena within micro devices and ultra-precise shape measurement for advanced manufacturing."

Professor Kim Jung-won, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.