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4th generationradiation accelerator facility launched in Pohang

4th generationradiation accelerator facility launched in Pohang

Posted October. 01, 2016 07:33,   

Updated October. 01, 2016 07:41

한국어

Strange phenomenon was observed in the sky above the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), located at the border of Switzerland, in early July: The sky turned purple and bizarre clouds were formed. The extraordinary images made people guessing that CERN opened the gate to the parallel universe while testing the way particles collide to each other, and this reflects some conspiracies people have about the CERN LHC (Large Hadron Collider). LHC consists of a 27-kilometre ring of superconducting magnets, and two particles are accelerated to travel at the speed of light before they are made to collide. LHC has the spot where scientists found Higgs boson, which had not been the confirmed hypothesis in the science world.

Synchrotron radiation accelerator uses similar principles applied for LHC – synchrotron radiation has short wavelengths of 1 nanometer and is quintillion times brighter than sunlight. Instead of colliding neutrons, electrons are accelerated at close to the speed of light, travelling at 300,000 kilometers per second, to obtain a variety of light sources, and this is why it is called “light factory.” Using this technology, scientists are able to observe tiny elements such as cells or atoms at a very instant moment.

Pohang Light Source (PLS), the only third-generation light source in Korea founded in 1994, has helped Korean scientists make a series of breakthroughs and scientific achievements in many areas, including protein structure of virus, nanoparticle, chemical combination of atoms in new drug and development of microrobot. In addition, there has been a sharp increase in the number of research papers, written by Korean scientists, published in many renowned academic magazines at home and abroad, and the quality of papers improved a lot, too. With growing demand from the industries, Samsung Electronics was able to find deficiency of its optical communication semiconductor device thanks to the PLS.

Korea has become the third country in the world, after the U.S. and Japan, to have the fourth generation synchrotron radiation accelerator. The idea of having the 4th generation facility, proposed by Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH) few years ago, was not executed as the negotiation process for funding had been slow. In the meantime, Japan completed its facility. The late President Roh Moo-hyun could not keep his promise of the construction of the 4th generation facility. It was only under the former Lee Myung-bak administration that the National Assembly passed a bill for funding of facility with some sarcastic comments and criticisms during the Lee Myung-bak administration. Looking at President Park Geun-hye smiling at the completion ceremony on Thursday, it reminds us of many ups and downs over the long journey we had in the past to come to this moment. To achieve a scientific revolution that will drive national competitiveness, we need stronger commitment to be united, and ideologies and political stances should be put to the side.



정성희기자 shchung@donga.com