Phys 101 Bilkent
Chara Dagres
The Department pursues a state-of-the-art research program. Research areas include the study of condensed matter physics, optoelectronic devices, nanoscience, lasers and photonics, statistical physics, material science, semiconductor physics, computational physics, ultrafast photonics, surface physics, mesoscopic physics, quantum optics, ultracold atomic physics. The department facilities compound semiconductor research and technology laboratory consisting of Class 100 and Class 10 000 clean rooms housing a mask aligner, SEM, PECVD, RIE, UHV evaporator, magnetron sputterer, RTP, I-V, C-V and microwave measurement setups. Experimental research areas include photonics, nanocrystals, lasers and optoelectronic device technologies.
The aim of the Physics Department is to educate the future scientists who can make original and advanced research at international level in fundamental physics or in its high technology applications in close relationship with other basic science and engineering departments. The undergraduate program is structured with the assumption that the all of the students will continue his or her education towards an M.S. and a Ph.D. degree in Physics. The Department therefore admits a small number of talented and highly qualified students every year. The program enables the student to attain a solid background in all areas of physics. A number of elective courses are offered for students whose interests developed in various areas of physics.
The double major program in physics is an option for exceptional undergraduate students enrolled in a host undergraduate program to pursue a second bachelor's degree from the Physics Department to prepare them for interdisciplinary research. Students are closely supervised and are responsible for all courses in the physics undergraduate curriculum except common or equivalent courses with their host undergraduate programs.
Degree Requirements: Students must have a cumulative grade point average of 3.00/4.00 and higher in their host undergraduate programs while continuing in the double major physics program and finishing it within ten semesters after enrolling in their host undergraduate programs.
The minor program is designed to attract bright students from othermajors and provide them with a strong background in the main concepts thatare usually found in a physics undergraduate curriculum. The program isdesigned to expose the students to both theoretical and experimentalmethods in physics and lead them towards interdisciplinary research areas.The strong physics background provided by the minor program will beadvantageous to students who choose to go on to graduate study in Physicsas well as other science and engineering disciplines.
The graduate program aims to develop students into scientists who can pursue original and creative research activities. This program is an important part of the research activity which aims to produce significant scientific output on an international level. The graduate program emphasizes research in various fields of condensed matter physics, in relation to the rapidly developing high technology fields such as photonics, nanoscience and nanotechnology. Presently, research is in progress in the physics of electrons in lower dimensionalities, nanoscience, statistical mechanics, many-body physics, strongly correlated electrons, properties of new materials, fabrication and theoretical analysis of new devices, computational physics, ultrafast photonics, optoelectronic devices, quantum optics, ultracold atomic physics.
Degree Requirements:In addition to at least 21 credit units of course work, the M.S. degree candidate must prepare and successfully defend a thesis. Expected duration to complete the M.S. program is four semesters; the maximum duration is six semesters.
Graduate Elective Courses: All 5XX or higher level courses with at least 3 credits offered by Graduate School of Engineering and Science.Graduate School of Engineering and Science comprises graduate programs of the departments of Computer Engineering, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Industrial Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemistry, Mathematics, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Physics, Architecture, and the interdisciplinary graduate programs Material Science and Nanotechnology, and Neuroscience.
Degree Requirements: 21 credit units of course work beyond the M.S. level or 42 credits of course work beyond the B.S. level is required. Ph.D. candidates must pass a qualifying exam and then must prepare a thesis work proposal. Preparing and defending a dissertation based on original research is the essence of the program. A paper based on the candidate's thesis must be accepted or published in a reputable journal before the dissertation can be defended. The expected duration to complete the Ph.D. program is eight semesters for students who enter the program after an M.S. degree, and ten semesters for those who enter after a B.S. degree. The maximum durations are twelve and fourteen semesters, respectively.
Abstract
Embryonic development is among the most complex biological processes in nature. The intricate genetic and morphogenetic mechanisms that govern these highly coordinated events have been studied in various model organisms for decades, however, our understanding of human embryonic development remains lacking due to the inaccessibility and ethical problems. While recent advances in stem cell-based methodologies offer a means to dissect this complexity by recapitulating developmental processes in a Petri dish, their lack of reproducibility has impeded gaining mechanistic insights. In this talk, I will discuss our robust and reproducible model that recapitulates human spinal cord development through controlled symmetry breaking of spatially coupled organoids (1).
Moreover, I will discuss the regulation of critical active matter properties of the cells through gene expression and cell signaling, which could illuminate the detailed physics underlying the morphogenesis of developing human embryos. By creating and experimenting with organoids that accurately mimic the developmental mechanisms and structural features of human embryos, our approach provides a potent avenue for unraveling the mechanisms that drive complex human developmental processes.
I am a theoretical physicist with interests in research problems that frequently intersect quantum optics, quantum information science, condensed matter physics, photonics, and lasers. The overarching themes in my group's research revolve around non-equilibrium collective phenomena in optical and microwave platforms. Much of our work is inspired by the possibilities offered by experimentally accessible physics in near-term devices for computing, simulation, machine learning and signal processing.
The curriculum of the Department of Physics provides a thorough background in the basics of physics and also features advanced elective courses, with the purpose of enabling students to undertake advanced and original research in modern physics and its high technology applications. Research is conducted in fields such as optoelectronics, nanoscience, materials science, semiconductor devices, ultrafast optics, and statistical mechanics, and forms an integral part of student education. Areas of faculty research and publishing include electron tunneling and atomic force microscopy and quantum conductance and electrons in low dimensionalities. Research takes place in a cleanroom laboratory environment and focuses on such topics of current interest as the physics of microelectronics and optoelectronic devices, photonic crystals, and surface physics in atomic resolution.
Bilkent offers a stimulating learning environment and a colorful social atmosphere. Its extensive campus provides a comfortable base for academic studies and extracurricular involvement while having the advantages of being close to a thriving metropolis. Students can commute to campus via the free shuttle system.
Bilkent University has recently been ranked 54th in the 2018 Times Higher Education (THE) Asia University Rankings. According to I.S.I. Citation Indexes, Bilkent continues to rank high in Turkey in a number of published papers per faculty member and ranks high internationally.
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Furkan completed his undergraduate degree in physics at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkiye. During his time there, he focused on studying the theory of ultracold dipolar Bose-Einstein condensates using the Hartree-Fock Bogoliubov method. Later, in 2018, he enrolled as a Ph.D. student at Harvard Physics, where his research shifted towards constructing an Erbium quantum gas microscope. After earning his M.A. in experimental atomic, molecular, and optical physics, Furkan changed his research direction to investigate the origins of life on Earth. Currently, he is part of the Sasselov group, where he is involved in studying the origins of homochirality and the effects of UV light on the chemistry of the prebiotic world.
In his homochirality research, he investigates the role of magnetic surfaces as chiral agents due to a phenomenon known as the chiral-induced spin selectivity (CISS) effect. In his recent work, by utilizing magnetic surfaces as templates for the asymmetric crystallization of an RNA precursor, Furkan demonstrated a robust way of achieving homochirality in RNA under prebiotic conditions.