Proving Indonesian Scientists

ARSIP PRIBADI

Oki Gunawan

Oki Gunawan, a 44-year-old researcher who works at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center in New York, is determined to prove that Indonesian scientists can contribute to fundamental physics. He is now leading a study that will expand the world’s knowledge on semiconductor materials for developing electronics technology.

Oki’s new discovery, the carrier-resolved photo-Hall effect (CRPH measurement) was published in the 7 Nov. 2019 issue of the Nature journal under the same name. Oki said the results of his research were part of a long series of scientific advancements to understand the features of materials that conduct electricity, which was started almost 200 years ago by German physicist and mathematician Georg Ohm in 1827 and was developed by American physicist Edwin Hall in 1879.

"Right now, we [Indonesians] are the ones to open the next stage with the new discovery I reported in the journal Nature. So I think this is an encouraging development," Oki said last week in Jakarta, where he received the 2019 Innovator Award from the Agency for the Application and Assessment of Technology (BPPT). He had also come for a research project supported by IBM Indonesia.

Earlier in 2014, he and another Indonesian researcher, Dr. Yudistira Virgus, a Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) alumnus who earned his doctorate in the US and interned at the Watson center, had discovered a new physics phenomenon they dubbed the camelback potential. This is also a fundamental physics discovery and its application has continued to grow, and was the basis of the experiment that led to the discovery of the CRPH measurement.

ARSIP PRIBADI

Oki Gunawan

Oki hoped that the discovery of the Indonesian scientists would raise the enthusiasm and interest among Indonesian students and youths in studying STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics).

Indonesian children now have a concrete example of what learning physics can achieve. The question is whether Indonesians can contribute other discoveries and formulas in physics.

Unboxing a mystery

Oki said that the research project started with one of his initiatives at IBM, so he led the project, collaborating with Dr. Byungha Shin from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology. Shin provided Perovskite, a new material used in solar cells that is currently a popular research subject.

Broadly speaking, Oki explained, the CRPH measurement provided a new way of determining the detailed electrical properties of semiconductor materials, which were the basic materials of electronics technology.

Experts in the semiconductor research and development industry need to know the electrical properties of the materials they use before producing electronics components, microchips or solar cells.

To do this, we can use three excitation energies that exist in nature: electricity, magnetism and light. The use of electrical energy is called the Ohm’s law experiment, which was discovered in 1827. The use of electrical and magnetic energies is called the Hall effect, and was discovered by US scientist Edwin Hall in 1879. The Hall effect is fundamental and well known in physics, but still holds many mysteries.

KOMPAS/LARASWATI ARIADNE ANWAR

Oki Gunawan

"If we add a third excitation, light, types of negative and positive charges occur simultaneously in the material and the problem becomes more complex. Before this, experts did not know how to measure the properties of the two simultaneously existing charges. There was no theory and no tools. It is these two things that we discovered and we reported in our paper in Nature," said Oki.

The research lasted about three years. The problem that the research team solved was indeed very difficult and has been a mystery of physics for 140 years.

"Even though we obtained data from an experiment two years ago, the theory was not yet there. We tried several other methods, but failed and almost gave up," said Oki, who holds around 60 patents.

Be inspiring

Oki wanted to inspire Indonesian students to become interested in and explore science. His journey began when he was recruited to the Indonesian Physics Olympiad Team (TOFI) that Yohanes Surya assembled. Oki, who was then a student at SMA 78 Jakarta senior high school, won a bronze medal at the International Physics Olympiad held in the United States in 1993. He won a scholarship to study in Singapore and the US. Oki then joined IBM in 2007 as a postdoctoral researcher and made many great achievements.

Oki is supportive of Indonesian students in pursuing advanced physics.

"I know quite a lot of great young Indonesian researchers in the field of physics. I am sure that, once the research climate in Indonesia improves, they will become great researchers or professors who will bring progress to Indonesia in the near future," he said.

KOMPAS/ESTER LINCE NAPITUPULU

Oki Gunawan

Born: Jakarta, 11 October 1975

Education: Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Princeton University, US (2000-2007)