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Menderes Işkın
Koç University,
Department of Physics,
Rumelifeneri Yolu,
34450 Sariyer, Istanbul, Turkiye.

E-mail: miskin(at)ku.edu.tr
KU office: SCI-116
Ph: +90 (212) 338-1604
Fx: +90 (212) 338-1559

Teaching:

PHYS 101 - General Physics I: Fall 2009, Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012 (May the force be with you:).
PHYS 102 - General Physics II: Spring 2010, Spring 2011, Spring 2012, Spring 2013 (The force is an energy field created by all living things, it surrounds us, it penetrates us, and it binds the galaxy together:).
PHYS 302 / ELEC 206 - Electromagnetism: Spring 2012, Spring 2013.
PHYS 312 / ELEC 403 - Advanced Electromagnetism: Spring 2010.
PHYS 403 / ELEC 403 - Solid State Physics: Fall 2011, Fall 2012.
PHYS 501 - Classical Mechanics: Fall 2009, Fall 2010.
PHYS 580/550 - Reading courses on (i) Ultracold Quantum Fields: Fall 2011 and Spring 2011; (ii) Superconductivity, Superfluids and Condensates: Fall 2012.

Research:

Current interest (Quantum phases of two-species Fermi-Fermi, Bose-Bose and Bose-Fermi mixtures of atomic gases at ultracold temperatures): With the ultimate success of techniques for trapping and cooling atoms developed and improved gradually since the 1980s, first atomic Bose gases and then atomic Fermi gases have emerged as unique testing grounds for many theories of exotic matter in nature, allowing for the creation of complex yet very accessible and controllable many-body quantum systems. These atomic systems offer unique opportunities as opposed to condensed matter systems in which the lack of precise experimental control has hindered the development of techniques that could systematically probe the effects of strong correlations.
Ph.D. work (BCS-BEC crossover): The focus of my Ph.D. research was on the analysis of the BCS-BEC evolution in superfluid Fermi gases. When the interaction between atoms is varied, the ground state evolves from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) limit of largely overlapping Cooper pairs to the limit of tightly bound small composite molecules which undergo Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). This is an important topic of current research not only for the atomic and molecular physics communities, but also for the condensed matter, nuclear, high energy and astrophysics communities, where models for superfluidity have been investigated in various contexts.
Current group members: Enis Doko (PhD due 2015 - supported by TUBITAK 2215) and Ahmet Tuna Bölükbaşı (Postdoc due 2014 - supported by TUBITAK 3501 and 2218).
Former group members: Selahattin Kalafat (MS defended September 2012 - supported by Koç University - currently at Sabancı University for PhD).
Funding: My research is supported by a European Commission's Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (FP7-PEOPLE-IRG-2010-268239), Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey's Career Grant (TUBITAK 3501-110T839), 2215 Fellowship for Foreign Citizens and 2218 National Postdoctoral Research Scholarship, and the Turkish Academy of Science's TUBA-GEBIP award.

Employment & education:

Department of Physics - Koç University in Istanbul, Turkiye.
- Assistant Professor (2009 - present).

Joint Quantum Institute - NIST and UMD in Maryland, U.S.A.
- Postdoctoral research associate (2007 - 2009). Supervisor: Prof. Carl J. Williams.

School of Physics - Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.A.
- Ph.D. in theoretical condensed matter physics (2007). Thesis advisor: Prof. Carlos A. R. Sa de Melo.

Department of Physics - Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkiye.
- BS in physics (2002). Senior advisor: Prof. Igor O. Kulik (retired).

Kadikoy Anatolian High School (1997) in Istanbul, Turkiye.

Melik Ahmet Gazi Elementary School (1990) in Tokat, Turkiye.

Publications & preprints:

M. Iskin, "Superfluid phases of ultracold Fermi gases on a checkerboard superlattice"; see arXiv:1304.8111.
M. Iskin, "Spin-orbit coupling induced polarization textures in trapped Fermi gases"; see arXiv:1304.1473.
M. Iskin and A. L. Subaşı, "Topological superfluid phases of an atomic Fermi gas with in- and out-of-plane Zeeman fields and equal Rashba-Dresselhaus spin-orbit coupling"; see arXiv:1211.4020.
M. Iskin, "Mastering the Ultracold"; Koç University Frontiers Magazine (2012), and its Turkish version "Aşırı soğuğa hakim olmak ama neden?"; Fener Magazine (2012) (translated mostly by E. D.).
M. Iskin, "Trapped Fermi gases with Rashba spin-orbit coupling in two dimensions"; Phys. Rev. A 86, 065601 (2012); see also arXiv:1206.1240.
E. Doko, A. L. Subaşı, and M. Iskin, "Counterflow of spontaneous mass currents in trapped spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases"; Phys. Rev. A 85, 053634 (2012); see also arXiv:1112.4468.
M. Iskin, "Vortex line in spin-orbit coupled atomic Fermi gases"; Phys. Rev. A 85, 013622 (2012); see also Erratum, and arXiv:1111.6450.
M. Iskin and A. L. Subaşı, "Quantum phases of atomic Fermi gases with anisotropic spin-orbit coupling"; Phys. Rev. A 84, 043621 (2011); see also arXiv:1108.4263.
M. Iskin and A. L. Subaşı, "Mass-imbalanced Fermi gases with spin-orbit coupling"; Phys. Rev. A 84, 041610(R) (2011); see also arXiv:1107.2376.
M. Iskin and A. L. Subaşı, "Stability of spin-orbit coupled Fermi gases with population imbalance"; Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 050402 (2011); see also arXiv:1106.0473.
M. Iskin, "Route to supersolidity for the extended Bose-Hubbard model"; Phys. Rev. A 83, 051606(R) (2011); see also arXiv:1101.6067.
M. Iskin, "Artifical gauge fields for the Bose-Hubbard model on a checkerboard superlattice and extended Bose-Hubbard model"; Eur. Phys. J. B 85, 76 (2012); see also arXiv:1101.0504.
M. Iskin, "Mean-field theory for the Mott insulator-paired superfluid transition in the two-species Bose-Hubbard model"; Phys. Rev. A 82, 055601 (2010); see also arXiv:1010.2688.
M. Iskin, "Isothermal-sweep theorems for ultracold quantum gases in a canonical ensemble"; Phys. Rev. A 83, 033613 (2011); see also arXiv:1009.2648.
M. Iskin and A. L. Subaşı, "Cooper pairing and BCS-BEC evolution in mixed-dimensional Fermi gases"; Phys. Rev. A 82, 063628 (2010); see also arXiv:1004.3111.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Ultracold fermions in real or fictitious magnetic fields: BCS-BEC evolution and type-I--type-II transition"; Phys. Rev. A 83, 045602 (2011); see also arXiv:1003.2405.
M. Iskin, "Dimer-atom scattering between two identical fermions and a third particle"; Phys. Rev. A 81, 043634 (2010); see also arXiv:1003.0106.
M. Iskin, "Strong-coupling expansion for the two-species Bose-Hubbard model"; Phys. Rev. A 82, 033630 (2010); see also arXiv:1001.0021.
Itay Hen, M. Iskin, and M. Rigol, "Phase diagram of the hardcore Bose-Hubbard model on a checkerboard superlattice"; Phys. Rev. B 81, 064503 (2010); see also arXiv:0911.0890.
M. Iskin and J. K. Freericks, "Dynamical mean-field theory for light-fermion--heavy-boson mixtures on optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. A 80, 053623 (2009); see also arXiv:0908.4589.
M. Iskin and J. K. Freericks, "Momentum distribution of the insulating phases of the extended Bose-Hubbard model"; Phys. Rev. A 80, 063610 (2009); see also arXiv:0905.1027.
M. Iskin and J. K. Freericks, "Strong-coupling perturbation theory for the extended Bose-Hubbard model"; Phys. Rev. A 79, 053634 (2009); see also arXiv:0903.0845.
M. Iskin and E. Tiesinga, "Rotation-induced superfluid-normal phase separation in trapped Fermi gases"; Phys. Rev. A 79, 053621 (2009); see also arXiv:0811.3010.
M. Iskin and C. J. Williams, "Trapped fermion mixtures with unequal masses: a Bogoliubov-de Gennes approach"; arXiv:0810.5065. [unpublished]
M. Iskin, "Vortex core states in superfluid Fermi-Fermi mixtures with unequal masses"; Phys. Rev. A 78, 021604(R) (2008); see also arXiv:0804.1035.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Evolution from BCS to Berezinzkii-Kosterlitz-Thouless superfluidity in one-dimensional optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. Lett. 103, 165301 (2009); see also arXiv:0803.1498.
M. Iskin and C. J. Williams, "Population imbalanced fermions in harmonically trapped optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. A 78, 011603(R) (2008); see also arXiv:0802.3945.
M. Iskin and C. J. Williams, "Trapped p-wave superfluids: a local density approach"; Phys. Rev. A 77, 041607(R) (2008); see also arXiv:0801.3795.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Quantum phases of Fermi-Fermi mixtures in optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. A 78, 013607 (2008); see also arXiv:0712.3472.
M. Iskin and C. J. Williams, "Trap-imbalanced fermion mixtures"; Phys. Rev. A 77, 013605 (2008); see also arXiv:0710.0353.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Fermi-Fermi mixtures in the strong attraction limit"; Phys. Rev. A 77, 013625 (2008); see also arXiv:0709.4424.
M. Iskin, "BCS to BEC evolution and quantum phase transitions in superfluid Fermi gases"; Georgia Tech (2007); Ph.D. Thesis. [186 pages, 48 figures, 1 table]
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Mixtures of ultracold fermions with unequal masses"; Phys. Rev. A 76, 013601 (2007); see also cond-mat/0703258.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Superfluid and insulating phases of fermion mixtures in optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 080403 (2007); see also cond-mat/0612496.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Ultracold heteronuclear molecules and ferroelectric superfluids"; Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 110402 (2007); see also cond-mat/0610380.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Evolution of two-band superfluidity from weak to strong coupling"; J. Low Temp. Phys. 149, 29 (2007).
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Asymmetric two-component Fermi gas with unequal masses"; cond-mat/0606624. [unpublished]
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Two-species fermion mixtures with population imbalance"; Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 100404 (2006); see also cond-mat/0604184.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Two-band superfluidity from the BCS to the BEC limit"; Phys. Rev. B 74, 144517 (2006); see also cond-mat/0603601.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Nonzero orbital angular momentum pairing in superfluid Fermi gases"; Phys. Rev. A 74, 013608 (2006); see also cond-mat/0602157.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Evolution from BCS to BEC superfluidity in p-wave Fermi gases", Phys. Rev. Lett. 96, 040402 (2006); see also cond-mat/0510300.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Superfluidity of p-wave and s-wave atomic Fermi gases in optical lattices"; Phys. Rev. B 72, 224513 (2005); see also cond-mat/0508134.
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "Exotic p-wave superfluidity of single hyperfine state Fermi gases in optical lattices"; cond-mat/0502148. [unpublished]
M. Iskin and C. A. R. Sa de Melo, "BCS-BEC crossover of collective excitations in two-band superfluids", Phys. Rev. B 72, 024512 (2005); see also cond-mat/0408586.
M. Iskin and I. O. Kulik, "Persistent currents in helical structures", Phys. Rev. B 70 195411 (2004); see also cond-mat/0403677.

Flash news:

M. I. is accepted to the Harvard-Koç University Visiting Scholar Program for the summer of 2013 (April 2013).
A memorable moment with the Turkish President Abdullah Gul (December 2012).
A. T. B. received the TUBITAK 2218 National Postdoctoral Research Scholarship (November 2012).
M. I. received the Koç University's "College of Sciences Outstanding Faculty Award" (October 2012).
S. K. defended his MS thesis "Ultracold spin-polarized Fermi gases with spin-orbit coupling", and moved to Sabancı University for his PhD (September 2012).
A. T. B. joined the group as a postdoc (August 2012).
M. I. received the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey's "TUBITAK Basic Sciences Encouragement Award" (July 2012).
M. I. received the Turkish Physical Society's "Prof. Şevket Erk Young Scientist Award" (July 2012).
E. D. received the TUBITAK 2215 PhD Fellowship for Foreign Citizens (October 2011).
M. I. received the Turkish Academy of Science's "The Young Scientists TUBA-GEBIP Award" (May 2011).
E. D. joined the group as a PhD candidate (March 2011).
M. I. received the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey's "TUBITAK 3501 Career Grant" (January 2011).
S. K. joined the group as an MS student (September 2010).
M. I. received the European Commission's "Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant" (May 2010).
M. I. started as an Assistant Professor of Physics at Koç University (September 2009).

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