The Ministry of Science and ICT (MSIT, Minister: Lee Jong-Ho) and the Institute of Basic Science (IBS, President: Noh Do-Young) held the Yemi-lab building completion ceremony at the ground office of the lab on October 5. The Yemi-lab is an underground experimental facility located at one thousand meters below ground under the Yemi mountain. Until now, the IBS Center for Underground Physics has conducted experiments at the 700 meters deep and 300 square meters big underground lab located in Yangyang province, but the size and depth of the lab reached the limit.
With the completion of Yemi-lab, world’s sixth biggest underground lab with the size of 3,000 square meters, the IBS Center for Underground Physics can accelerate the dark matter search and the neutrino experiments. Studies on dark matter and neutrino is considered to be the top priority in the world of physics. However, the signals from the dark matter and the neutrinos are very subtle, so the environments with minimum background noise is essential. To this end, leading research groups build deep underground labs to conduct studies.
AMoRE-II, short for the Advanced Mo-based Rare process Experiment, aims to identify the physical properties of neutrino using molybdenum. Yemi-lab will allow experiments with bigger molybdenum crystals as big as 200kg, a big improvement from the 6kg crystals used in Yangyang lab. COSINE-200 aims to search for the dark matter that is believed to compose approximately 26% of cosmos but has never been observed. The experiment seeks the trail of dark matter by examining the collision between the dark matter blown into the earth and the crystals in the COSINE detector.
The IBS Center for Underground Physics plans to share the Yemi-lab facilities with other institutes. Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) will spare a lab to test earthquake sensor equipment, and Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) will use Yemi-lab to study and monitor deep bedrock. Further, international cooperation experiments including IsoDAR is planned to take place in Yemi-lab.
Vice Minister Oh Tae-Seog of Science and ICT said “It is absolutely crucial to have huge research facilities for certain basic science fields to show world-leading performances,” and stressed that Korean government will continue to make investment in huge research facilities to promote basic sciences.
For further information, please contact the Public Relations Division (Phone: +82-44-202-4034, E-mail: msitpress@korea.kr) of the Ministry of Science and ICT.
Please refer to the attached PDF