Principal Investigator

Prof. Young-Gwan Choi최영관

Young-Gwan Choi leads the QUASAR Lab, developing diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) quantum sensing — from nanoscale scanning magnetometry to semiconductor inspection and next-generation quantum devices. His work on the orbital Hall effect was published in Nature (2023).

Affiliations

Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Ulsan, Republic of Korea
Guest Scientist, Max-Planck-Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (MPI-CPfS), Dresden, Germany

Research interests

Quantum sensing based on diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) tip-scanning / confocal-microscope magnetometry
Quantum sensing platforms for semiconductor device in-line inspection
Quantum sensing devices — ultra-sensitive sensors for RF fields, magnetic fields, and current imaging
Spectroscopy for condensed-matter physics and materials science: time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr effect (TR-MOKE) microscopy, time-domain thermoreflectance (TDTR), time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy, photoluminescence (PL) microscopy, and synchrotron-based X-ray magnetic circular dichroism

Education

Ph.D. in Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU) — Advisor: Prof. Gyung-Min Choi (Sep 2018 – Feb 2023)
Ph.D. candidate, Physics & Photon Science, GIST — Advisor: Prof. Jong-Seok Lee (Feb 2016 – Jul 2018)
M.A. in Physics & Photon Science, GIST — Advisor: Prof. Jong-Seok Lee (Feb 2014 – Feb 2016)
B.A. in Applied Physics, Summa Cum Laude, Dankook University (Feb 2007 – Feb 2013)

Experience

Assistant Professor, School of Materials Science & Semiconductor Engineering and Dept. of Physics, University of Ulsan (Sep 2025 – present)
Guest Scientist, MPI-CPfS, Dresden, Germany (Sep 2025 – present)
Postdoctoral Researcher, MPI-CPfS, Dresden, Germany (Sep 2022 – Aug 2025)

Awards & honors

Dec 2024 — Outstanding Research Contribution Award (Phase-4 BK21), from the Deputy Prime Minister & Minister of Education, Republic of Korea
Oct 2021 — Grand Prize, SKKU Graduate Student Paper Award (observation of the orbital Hall effect)
Feb 2021 — Silver Prize (basic science division), 27th SAMSUNG Humantech Paper Award (direct observation of the orbital Hall effect)
Jul 2021 — Outstanding Poster Award, KMS Summer Meeting
Apr 2021 — Outstanding Oral Presentation Award, KPS Spring Meeting
Apr 2017 — Outstanding Poster Award, KPS Spring Meeting
Apr 2016 — Best Poster Award, KPS Spring Meeting
Oct 2015 — Best Poster Award, KPS Fall Meeting
2019 — Ilun Scholarship, Ilun Science and Technology Foundation
2014–2018 — Korean Government Fellowship, GIST
Feb 2013 — Summa Cum Laude (1st / 16), Applied Physics, Dankook University

Contact

ygchoi@ulsan.ac.kr · +82-(0)52-259-2330