Searches for New Physics with Precision Magnetometers
News
Silvana Abi Mershed successfully defended her MSc thesis on 25 December 2025. Congratulations Silvana!
Ahmed Alzaidi successfully defended his MSc thesis on 25 December 2025. Congratulations Ahmed!
Deniz is an invited lecturer at the "4th Training School COST Action COSMIC WISPers (CA21106)" in Corfu, Greece on June 2026.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “American Physical Society Global Physics Summit 2026” in Denver, Colorado, USA on March 2026.
Deniz is an organizer at the “3rd General Meeting of COST Action COSMIC WISPers (CA21106)” in Sofia, Bulgaria on September 2025.
Silvana attended the the “Diversity of Sensing Architectures for New Physics and Real-World Applications” in Les Diablerets, Switzerland on July 2025.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “2nd IZTECH Quantum Days” in Izmir, Turkey on April 2025.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “COST Action COSMIC WISPers Meeting” in Istanbul, Turkey on September 2024.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “Turkish Physical Society’s \(40^{th}\)meeting” in Bodrum, Turkey on August 2024.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the 10. Yoğun Madde Fiziği Toplantısı (in Turkish)” in Izmir, Turkey on May 2024.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “28. Yoğun Madde Fiziği Toplantısı (in Turkish)” in Ankara, Turkey on December 2023.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “Turkish Physical Society’s \(39^{th}\)meeting” in Bodrum, Turkey on August 2023.
Deniz is an invited speaker at the “Quantum Optics and Information Meeting KOBIT \(\ket{7}\)” in Eskisehir, Turkey on February 2023.
Deniz is an invited lecturer at the “Ultralight Dark Matter - Scientific foundations and experimental searches” Summer School in Bad Honnef, Germany on August 2022.
Research
Quantum Magnetic Sensors for Axion Dark Matter Search
We are building a precision optical magnetometer based on quantum sensors to search for a possible effectively magnetic signature from an axion particle as a candidate for the dark matter.
This research is funded by the TÜBİTAK 2232-B International Young Researchers Program. Project title: "Searching for new particles with laboratory-scale experiments using quantum magnetic sensors", funded from December 2023 to December 2026, total budget: 4,905,000 TL.
We are a participant of the COST Action CA21106: Cosmic WISPers in the Dark Universe: Theory, astrophysics and experiments”.
Zero-field NMR with Optical Magnetometers
We are building an optical magnetometer that works at room temperature under zero external magnetic field to measure Nuclear Magnetic Resonance signal from various chemical samples.
Our Collaborations
GNOME Collaboration with Prof. Dmitry Budker in Helmholtz Institute, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany.
FLASH Collaboration with Dr. Claudio Gatti in INFN LNF, Frascati, Italy
Publications
People
Group Leader: Prof. Aybas
Deniz Aybaş is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Bilkent University. Prior to joining Bilkent, she was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley for two years. She received her PhD in Electrical Engineering from Boston University in 2021, where she was a Research Assistant in the Physics Department for seven years. She had received her BSc in Electrical and Electronics Engineering with a minor in Physics from Middle East Technical University in 2014.
Service:
2024 - 2027 International Affairs Officer at the Forum for Early Career Scientists (FECS) of APS
2024 - 2027 Co-Leader of Working Group 4: Direct WISP Searches at COST Action CA21106
Awards:
2024 “Prof. Dr. Şevket Erk Young Scientist Award” from the Turkish Physical Society
Google Scholar
E-mail: 
Phone: +90 312 290 1972
Mailing address: Department of Physics (Fizik Bölümü), Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey 06800
Office: SA-224
Group Members
Kubilay Aytemiz
PhD Student
Kubilay received his BSc and MSc degrees from METU, focusing on the simulation of discrete time crystals on quantum computers. His current research focuses on ZULF-NMR. In his free time, he enjoys bird photography.
Silvana Abi Mershed
PhD Student
Silvana has a BSc in Physics from the Lebanese University and MSc in Physics from Bilkent University. Her research is in quantum magnetometry. She worked as a physics teacher teaching IB physics, AP physics and tutoring IGCSE physics for 4 years. She enjoys stargazing and listening to music.
Ahmed Alzaidi
PhD Student
Ahmed received his BSc in Physics Engineering at Ankara University and his MSc in Physics at Bilkent University, focusing on NMR physics from ultralow to high magnetic fields. Originally from Baghdad, born in Kirkuk, he has led physics student societies as chairman and enjoys working with people. Outside physics, he enjoys contemplation, reading poetry, listening to music, and playing football.
Sinan Zop
MSc Student
Sinan has a BSc in physics from Bilkent University. They are currently in a Masters program in Bilkent University and are working on axions. They helped organize physics events alongside Turkish Physical Society. Outside of physics, they like going to art galleries and listening to music.
Past Members
BSc Senior Thesis Students
Dide Gülneval Yazar, 2026 Şükrü Tolga Şen, 2026 Miraç Kerem Maden, 2025 Gökalp Elaçmaz, 2025 İdil Gözel, 2025 Bahar Öztürk, 2024 Asaf Toprakçı, 2024
Teaching
Spring 2026: PHYS 180 Conceptual Physics, PHYS 591/592 Graduate Seminars
Fall 2025: PHYS 180 Conceptual Physics, PHYS 591/592 Graduate Seminars
Spring 2025: PHYS 101 General Physics 1, PHYS 180 Conceptual Physics, PHYS 591/592 Graduate Seminars
Fall 2024: PHYS 180 Conceptual Physics, PHYS 438/538 Atomic Molecular and Optical Physics, PHYS 591/592 Graduate Seminars
Spring 2024: PHYS 101 General Physics 1
Fall 2023: PHYS 101 General Physics 1
Outreach
On March 2025, Prof. Aybas was a guest in the Episode 11 of "Kuantum Her Yerde" aired in the Voice of Türkiye radio by TRT [Podcast link].
On December 2024 and January 2025, Prof. Aybas was a guest on two radio shows: "Bilim Kenti" at Radyo Bilkent [Spotify link], and "Teknoloji Trafiği" at Radyo Trafik [News link].
On October 2023, Prof. Aybas gave a talk on her research and her life as a scientist to an audience of (mostly) undergraduate students at Bilkent University, invited by the University's Society of Scientific Communication "Bilimsel İletişim Topluluğu".
A must-read article on how to do research, by Prof. Steven Weinberg: "Four golden lessons"
A manifesto of values for achieving equality in Quantum Science: "Women for Quantum"
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