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People of AsphoriX

People are the process.

World-class equipment is only a prerequisite. AsphoriX's edge comes from the people who characterize how each material behaves under machining, register metrology and machining data, and accumulate and operate AI correction recipes. Meet the academia–institute team that combines full-cycle space-optics experience with thirty years of aspheric production technology.

Chief Executive Officer

Dr. Jeong-Yeol Han is a space-optics systems expert whose path has run from physics through optics and space instrumentation to space exploration. As Head of the Center for Space Exploration Technology at KASI and Professor at UST, he has led research on the design, fabrication, and testing of space telescopes and optical payloads, on segmented and deformable mirrors, and on precision optical fabrication and polishing. Earlier, as a research engineer at Samsung Thales (now Hanwha Systems), he experienced the constraints and demands of an industrial development floor. In March 2026 he founded AsphoriX with the approval of his institute, commercializing thirty years of aspheric production technology as an AI optics foundry.

Optical fabrication has long depended on the hands and judgment of master opticians. Over more than twenty years of designing, machining, measuring, and aligning space-telescope and payload optics, I learned that every one of those iterations is data. AsphoriX turns that iteration into a measurement-driven closed-loop process. Not a revolution in specifications but a revolution in yield: that is the value we intend to add to the space and defense optics industry. Jeong-Yeol Han · CEO, AsphoriX

Areas of expertise

Space telescopes · optical payloadsFull-cycle design, fabrication, and test; geometry and alignment criteria for off-axis parabolic segments; planning studies for Korea-led space telescopes
Segmented · deformable mirrors · active opticsFoldable and inflatable segmented-mirror telescopes, multilayer actuator-array deformable mirror drive systems, deformable-mirror performance analysis
Precision optical fabrication · polishingTool influence function (TIF) and removal characteristics of SiC, CVD SiC, and cordierite mirrors; machine-learning prediction of deterministic polishing metrics
Space optical communication · large infrastructurePlanning of lunar and deep-space optical communication demonstrations, GMT fast steering mirror (FSM), shared research-equipment operation

Education

Aug 2008
Ph.D. in Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology (UST)Experimental research on optical fabrication
Sep 2006 – Sep 2007
Visiting Researcher, College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona

Professional experience

Mar 2026 – present
CEO, AsphoriX Co., Ltd.Government research-institute spin-off (concurrent appointment approved by the institute)
Mar 2019 – present
Professor, Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology (UST)KASI Campus · President of the UST Alumni Association since 2024
Mar 2011 – present
Principal Researcher and Head of the Center for Space Exploration Technology, KASILeads core-technology, equipment-operation, and industry-linked programs in space telescopes, optical payloads, and precision polishing
Sep 2008 – Feb 2011
Research Engineer, Samsung Thales (now Hanwha Systems)Defense optics development

Principal-investigator programs (since 2020)

Nov 2019 – Dec 2022
Next-generation observation platform technology developmentMinistry of Science and ICT
May 2021 – Dec 2022
Ultra-high-resolution segmented optical surface and phase-control technologyMinistry of Science and ICT
Jan 2020 – Jun 2021
Fundamental research on ultra-lightweight off-axis aspheric mirrors for spaceMinistry of Science and ICT
Jan 2020 – Dec 2025
SME technology cooperation and astronomy and space technology base researchMinistry of Science and ICT → Korea AeroSpace Administration (KASA)
Jan 2023 – Dec 2026
Infrastructure program to promote commercialization of next-generation communication componentsMinistry of Trade, Industry and Energy
Nov 2023 – Jun 2027
Engineering collaboration with Gemini / NOIRLabU.S. National Science Foundation (NSF)
2020 – 2026
Shared research-equipment operationMinistry of Science and ICT · KASA

Participating researcher: rapid-response wide-area surveillance CubeSat formation development (Defense Acquisition Program Administration) · advanced laser-interferometer technology for next-generation gravitational-wave detectors · edge-AI adaptive imaging platform · lunar and deep-space optical communication demonstration planning · lunar-surface payload concept design · deformable-mirror performance-analysis assembly · Sun–Earth L4 observatory planning · Korea-led space telescope planning, and others

Selected publications

  • Optics Express 34(15), 27201 · 2026 · Editors' PickExperimentally grounded machine learning prediction of TIF-derived removal metrics for deterministic optical polishingCorresponding author · experimentally grounded prediction of deterministic polishing metrics
  • Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 5(2), 024010 · 2019Parametric geometry analysis for circular-aperture off-axis parabolic mirror segmentFirst author · geometry and alignment criteria for off-axis parabolic segments
  • Optics Express 24(11), 12349 · 2016Novel orthogonal velocity polishing tool and its material removal characteristics from CVD SiC mirror surfacesCo-author · OVT process model and experimental validation for precision polishing of CVD SiC mirrors

Selected granted patents

  • KR 10-2952409 · granted Apr 2026Foldable segmented-mirror module with foldable segmented-mirror shells, segmented-mirror telescope including the same, and installation method
  • KR 10-2766311 · granted Feb 2025Space-deployable inflatable hemispherical segmented-mirror telescope
  • KR 10-2766017 · granted Feb 2025Deformable-mirror drive system based on a multilayer actuator array

Professional service · international collaboration

2023 – present
Committee member, SPIE Space Telescopes
2014 – 2025
NASA Mirror Technology Days: presentations on ultra-lightweight opticsCollaboration with NASA MSFC and NOIRLab on space-environment testing of ultra-lightweight and all-SiC optics · participant in the ROK–US Civil Space Dialogue
2023 – 2025
Chair, Space Instrumentation Division, Korean Space Science Society
2019 – 2024
Member, National Research Facilities and Equipment Review CommitteeMinistry of Science and ICT · reviewer of research-equipment cost analyses for national R&D programs
2021 – 2026
Evaluator, R&D Program Evaluation Panel, Ministry of SMEs and StartupsSelection and final evaluation of SME R&D programs
2020 – present
Evaluator for space-exploration, large-infrastructure, and civil–military programsKASA · Korea Aerospace Research Institute · Korea Basic Science Institute · Agency for Defense Development
Chief Technology Officer

Dr. Sug-Whan Kim is the pioneer of large-aperture aspheric production technology in Korea. He earned his doctorate at University College London on full-size active polishing of large aspheric optics and contributed to the development of Precessions, the algorithm-based robotic polishing technology that became the foundation of Zeeko, today's global standard precision-polishing platform. After taking part in the development of the optical payload of NASA's GALEX ultraviolet space telescope with NASA JPL and Caltech, he joined Yonsei University as Professor of Astronomy in 2002, where he researched the fabrication, production, and alignment of aspheric optics, and served as Visiting Faculty at Caltech and as a Non-Resident Scientist at NASA JPL.

Key contributions

Active polishing of large aspheric opticsDoctoral research on full-size active polishing · pioneered large-aperture aspheric production research in Korea
Precessions · Zeeko lineageAlgorithm-based robotic polishing core technology · thirty-year working relationship with Zeeko's leadership
Space-telescope optics fabrication and assemblyFabrication and assembly technology for the core optics of the NASA GALEX ultraviolet space telescope
Industry–academia–institute talent networkA network of optics specialists across defense and optics companies, overseas universities, and government research institutes

Professional experience

Mar 2026 – present
CTO, AsphoriX Co., Ltd.Technology lead · co-founder
2002 – present
Professor and Professor Emeritus, Department of Astronomy, Yonsei UniversityLarge-aperture aspheric production research · Visiting Faculty, Caltech · Non-Resident Scientist, NASA JPL
1999 – 2002
NASA GALEX ultraviolet space telescope optical payload developmentWith NASA JPL / Caltech
1994
Development of the Precessions core technology behind Zeeko · robotic polisher development beginsAlgorithm-based robotic polishing
1993
Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, University College LondonFull-size active polishing of large-aperture aspheric optics
Core Team

The team that turns technology
into a business

The core team translates the founders' technology into programs, equipment, data, and organization. Technical staff in metrology-and-machining software integration, backend and process databases, and algorithms will join in sequence as financing is completed.

Team Lead · R&D Program

Woo-Hyung Jang

R&D program management · business support (M.Eng.)

Formerly with Keysight Technologies. Responsible for government R&D program execution, equipment procurement, and milestone management.

Director · Research Planning

Dong-Moon Jeong

Research planning · management

Responsible for research planning and management, external cooperation, and program operations.

Partner Network

Institutions we
develop with

Each stage of machining, metrology, AI correction, and iterative control has a partner with a clear technical origin. AsphoriX builds its own software and process data on top of this network.

ALGORITHM

University of Arizona

Joint development of polishing-process control software with a research group at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences, continuing a relationship that began during the CEO's visiting research.

MACHINING

Zeeko Ltd. (UK)

Hardware partner for the world-standard precision-polishing platform. Machining-technology collaboration builds on the lineage in which the CTO contributed to the core technology.

METROLOGY

Korea Research Institute of Standards and Science (KRISS)

Collaboration in precision metrology for form, wavefront, and surface roughness, the basis for measurement references and coupon cooperation.

TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER

Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI)

Technology transfer of a freeform polishing apparatus patent and optical polishing, assembly, and alignment know-how as the starting point of our process.

SPACE OPTICS

NASA MSFC · NSF NOIRLab

Collaboration on space-environment testing of ultra-lightweight advanced-material optics and engineering collaboration with Gemini/NOIRLab, international programs the CEO conducts at KASI.

ECOSYSTEM

Korean industry–academia–institute optics network

A network of optics developers across defense and optics companies, government research institutes, and universities, the foundation for coupon supply and talent recruitment.

Careers

We hire people
who build systems.

AsphoriX does not scale by adding headcount, but it does add people who design the system. We are looking for colleagues who understand world-class equipment and build processes from data. Send us your area of interest and background by email.

Open Roles
Optical fabrication engineer (ultra-precision polishing · CCOS) Optical metrology engineer (interferometry · CMM · roughness) AI · process-data engineer Backend · database developer R&D program · quality (AS9100) manager Business support

Positions are based at the Daejeon head office or the Seoul (Magok) R&D center, depending on the role. Key staff will be compensated according to role, market level, and performance, with stock options planned alongside.