Background and Research Interests

My original training is in experimental particle physics, specializied in quantum calorimetry for neutrino and dark matter experiments at underground facilities. My current research includes:

• High-precision nuclear decay measurements with cryogenic microcalorimeters, for probing physics beyond the Standard Model and advancing nuclear material analysis for nuclear safeguards and forensics applications.

• Development of phonon-sensing quantum calorimeters for detecting neutrino and dark matter scattering. 

Ph.D. in Physics, Seoul National University, 2016

B.Ed. in Physics Education, Korea National University of Education, 2009

 

Nuclear Decay Spectroscopy

1. Lee, C., et al. "Magneto-$\nu $: Heavy neutral lepton search using $^{241} $ Pu $\beta^-$ decays." arXiv preprint arXiv:2503.18350 (2025).
2. Smolsky, Joseph, et al. "Direct experimental constraints on the spatial extent of a neutrino wavepacket." Nature 638.8051 (2025): 640-644.
3. Kavner, Alex RL, et al. "Absolute decay counting of 146Sm with 4π cryogenic microcalorimetry." Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 1065 (2024): 169462.
4. Hines, Nathan, S. T. P. Boyd, and Geon-Bo Kim. "Progress Toward Fast Decay Energy Spectroscopy for Actinide Analysis." Journal of Low Temperature Physics 216.1 (2024): 285-291.
5. Kim, Geon-Bo, et al. "Decay energy spectrometry for improved nuclear material analysis at the IAEA NML." IAEA Symposium on International Safeguards: Reflecting on the Past and Anticipating the Future, Vienna, Austria, (2022). https://media.superevent.com/documents/20221027/668fdac0ee8d895ec6bcf293b1c42e6a/id-145.pdf
6. Friedrich, S., et al. "Limits on the Existence of sub-MeV Sterile Neutrinos from the Decay of Be 7 in Superconducting Quantum Sensors." Physical Review Letters 126.2 (2021): 021803. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.126.021803

Gamma-ray spectroscopy

1. Lawrence, David J., et al. "The Psyche Gamma-Ray and Neutron Spectrometer." Space Science Reviews 221.6 (2025): 78.
2. Burks, Morgan, et al. "Measuring the surface abundance of iron and nickel on the asteroid (16) Psyche in the presence of large solar particle events." Planetary and Space Science 240 (2024): 105832.
3. Kim, G. B., et al., A New Measurement of the 60 keV Emission from Am-241 Using Metallic Magnetic Calorimeters, J Low Temp Phys (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02412-7
4. Kim, G. B., et al., Consistent measurements of 233U gamma emissions using metallic magnetic calorimeters with ultra-high energy resolution. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 318, 803-808 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-6182-9

Quantum Calorimetry

1. Kim, I., et al. "Athermal phonon collection efficiency in diamond crystals for low mass dark matter detection." Physical Review D 111.7 (2025): 072009.
2. Kim, Geon-Bo, Self-absorption and Phonon Pulse Shape Discrimination in Scintillating Bolometers, J Low Temp Phys (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10909-020-02365-x
3. Kim, G. B., et al., Novel measurement method of heat and light detection for neutrinoless double beta decay. Astroparticle Physics 91 (2017): 105-112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.astropartphys.2017.02.009