Staff Profile - School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics

Profiles at:

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Career History:

- Newcastle University, United Kingdom
Lecturer, School of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics, 10/2020 - now.

- Ecole Polytechnic Fedarale de Lausanne, Switzerland
EPFL Fellow (co-funded by Marie Sklodowska-Curie), School of Engineering, 09/2016 - 09/2020.

- National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
Research Fellow, Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, 02/2014 - 09/2016.

Academic Qualifications:

- National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore
Ph.D. in Physics, 2014
Dissertation: “Charge and Spin Transport in Graphene-based Devices”

- Middle East Technical University (METU), Ankara, Turkey
B.Sc. in Physics, 2009.

Links to an external site.

Research

Dr Ahmet Avsar is an experimental condensed matter physicist. He is interested in the exploitation of the multiple quantum degrees of freedom (spin, pseudospin, and valley) in two-dimensional materials-based heterostructure devices for applications in energy-efficient information technologies. Details about his research activities can be found here.

To date, he has authored 24 peer-reviewed publications, over 2150 citations and a Hirsch Index of 19. They are published in high impact journals including Review of Modern Physics, Nature, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Physics, Nature Photonics, and Nature Communications. He often serves as a reviewer for most of these journals as well and he received the 2019 Nature Outstanding Reviewer Award. He is an active member of the growing field of spintronics, magnetism and valleytronics and he has presented over 25 invited seminars/conferences/workshops.

Teaching

· PHY8046 - PHY8050 - Extended Project - MPhys Theoretical Physics / Physics (2 semesters)

· PHY 2037 - Principles of Quantum Mechanics, Materials & Solid State Physics

· PHY3025 - PHY3039 - Group Project (1 Semester)

· PHY 3027 - 3024 Project module for BSc Physics / Theoretical Physics (1 Semester)

Publications

Avsar A. Highly anisotropic van der Waals magnetism. Nature Materials 2022, 21, 731–733. In Preparation.
Onbasli MC, Avsar A, Zanjani SM, Cheghabouri AM, Katmis F. Theory and Modeling of Spintronics of Nanomagnets. In: Fundamentals of Low Dimensional Magnets. 2022. In Preparation.
Ciarrocchi A, Tagarelli F, Avsar A, Kis A. Excitonic devices with van der Waals heterostructures: valleytronics meets twistronics. Nature Reviews Materials 2022, epub ahead of print.
Glushkov E, Macha M, Räth E, Navikas V, Ronceray N, Cheon C, Ahmed A, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Shorubalko I, Kis A, Fantner G, Radenovic A. Engineering Optically Active Defects in Hexagonal Boron Nitride Using Focused Ion Beam and Water. ACS Nano 2022, 16(3), 3695–3703.
Comtet J, Rayabharam A, Glushkov E, Zhang M, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Aluru NR, Radenovic A. Anomalous interfacial dynamics of single proton charges in binary aqueous solutions. Science Advances 2021, 7(40).
Migliato MG, Zhao Y, Avsar A, Wang Z, Tripathi M, Radenovic A, Kis A. Logic-in-Memory Based on an Atomically Thin Semiconductor. Nature 2020, 587(7832), 72-77.
Avsar A, Cheon CY, Pizzochero M, Tripathi M, Ciarrocchi A, Yazyev OV, Kis A. Probing Magnetism in Atomically Thin Semiconducting PtSe₂. Nature Communications 2020, 11(1), 4806.
Avsar A, Ochoa H, Guinea F, Özyilmaz B, van Wees BJ, Vera-Marun IJ. Colloquium: Spintronics in Graphene and Other Two-Dimensional Materials. Reviews of Modern Physics 2020, 92(2), 021003.
Comtet J, Grosjean B, Glushkov E, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Vuilleumier R, Bocquet ML, Radenovic A. Direct Observation of Water-Mediated Single-Proton Transport between hBN Surface Defects. Nature Nanotechnology 2020, 15(7), 598-604.
Unuchek D, Ciarrocchi A, Avsar A, Sun Z, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Kis A. Valley-Polarized Exciton Currents in a van Der Waals Heterostructure. Nature Nanotechnology 2019, 14(12), 1104-1109.
Avsar A, Ciarrocchi A, Pizzochero M, Unuchek D, Yazyev OV, Kis A. Defect induced, layer-modulated magnetism in ultrathin metallic PtSe₂. Nature Nanotechnology 2019, 14(7), 674-678.
Ciarrocchi A, Unuchek D, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Kis A. Polarization Switching and Electrical Control of Interlayer Excitons in Two-Dimensional van der Waals Heterostructures. Nature Photonics 2019, 13(2), 131-136.
Unuchek D, Ciarrocchi A, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Kis A. Room-Temperature Electrical Control of Exciton Flux in a van der Waals Heterostructure. Nature 2018, 560(7718), 340-344.
Ciarrocchi A, Avsar A, Ovchinnikov D, Kis A. Thickness-Modulated Metal-to-Semiconductor Transformation in a Transition Metal Dichalcogenide. Nature Communications 2018, 9(1), 919.
Avsar A, Marinov K, Marin EG, Iannaccone G, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Fiori G, Kis A. Reconfigurable Diodes Based on Vertical WSe₂ Transistors with van der Waals Bonded Contacts. Advanced Materials 2018, 30(18), 1707200.
Marinov K, Avsar A, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Kis A. Resolving the Spin Splitting in the Conduction Band of Monolayer MoS₂. Nature Communications 2017, 8(1), 1938.
Avsar A, Unuchek D, Liu J, Sanchez OL, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Özyilmaz B, Kis A. Optospintronics in Graphene via Proximity Coupling. ACS Nano 2017, 11(11), 11678-11686.
Avsar A, Tan JY, Luo X, Khoo KH, Yeo Y, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Quek SY, Özyilmaz B. van der Waals Bonded Co/h-BN Contacts to Ultrathin Black Phosphorus Devices. Nano Letters 2017, 17(9), 5361-5367.
Avsar A, Tan JY, Kurpas M, Gmitra M, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Fabian J, Özyilmaz B. Gate-Tunable Black Phosphorus Spin Valve with Nanosecond Spin Lifetimes. Nature Physics 2017, 13(9), 888-893.
Avsar A, Vera-Marun IJ, Tan JY, Koon GKW, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Adam S, Özyilmaz B. Electronic Spin Transport in Dual-Gated Bilayer Graphene. NPG Asia Materials 2016, 8(6), e274.
Avsar A, Vera-Marun IJ, Tan JY, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Castro Neto AH, Özyilmaz B. Air-Stable Transport in Graphene-Contacted, Fully Encapsulated Ultrathin Black Phosphorus-Based Field-Effect Transistors. ACS Nano 2015, 9(4), 4138-4145.
Avsar A, Lee JH, Koon GKW, Özyilmaz B. Enhanced Spin-Orbit Coupling in Dilute Fluorinated Graphene. 2D Materials 2015, 2(4), 044009.
O'Farrell ECT, Avsar A, Tan JY, Eda G, Özyilmaz B. Quantum Transport Detected by Strong Proximity Interaction at a Graphene–WS₂ van Der Waals Interface. Nano Letters 2015, 15(9), 5682-5688.
Lee JH, Avsar A, Jung J, Tan JY, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Natarajan S, Eda G, Adam S, Castro Neto AH, Özyilmaz B. van Der Waals Force: A Dominant Factor for Reactivity of Graphene. Nano Letters 2015, 15(1), 319-325.
Tan JY, Avsar A, Balakrishnan J, Koon GKW, Taychatanapat T, O'Farrell ECT, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Eda G, Castro Neto AH, Özyilmaz B. Electronic Transport in Graphene-Based Heterostructures. Applied Physics Letters 2014, 104(18), 183504.
Balakrishnan J, Koon GKW, Avsar A, Ho Y, Lee JH, Jaiswal M, Baeck SJ, Ahn JH, Ferreira A, Cazalilla MA, Neto AHC, Özyilmaz B. Giant Spin Hall Effect in Graphene Grown by Chemical Vapour Deposition. Nature Communications 2014, 5, 4748.
Avsar A, Tan JY, Taychatanapat T, Balakrishnan J, Koon GKW, Yeo Y, Lahiri J, Carvalho A, Rodin AS, O'Farrell ECT, Eda G, Neto AHC, Özyilmaz B. Spin–Orbit Proximity Effect in Graphene. Nature Communications 2014, 5, 4875.
Yang TY, Balakrishnan J, Volmer F, Avsar A, Jaiswal M, Samm J, Ali SR, Pachoud A, Zeng M, Popinciuc M, Güntherodt G, Beschoten B, Özyilmaz B. Observation of Long Spin-Relaxation Times in Bilayer Graphene at Room Temperature. Physical Review Letters 2011, 107(4), 047206.
Avsar A, Yang TY, Bae S, Balakrishnan J, Volmer F, Jaiswal M, Yi Z, Ali SR, Güntherodt G, Hong BH, Beschoten B, Özyilmaz B. Toward Wafer Scale Fabrication of Graphene Based Spin Valve Devices. Nano Letters 2011, 11(6), 2363-2368.

Dr Ahmet Avsar

Lecturer in Physics