I am a Ph.D. candidate and Fulbright scholar at UCLA working on high-alphabet quantum communications. I am actively working on all the aspects of a practical quantum network, i.e. generation (biphoton frequency combs), transmission (entanglement-based QKD), and storage(deep-donor quantum memories) of quantum information, plus efficient coding and error correction schemes for quantum key generation.

I have a major contribution to the conception and writing of three grants that brought over 2 million USD. I am actively running the project of a 1.6 million USD, largely independently, to develop high-fidelity quantum repeaters. I am collaborating with multiple groups at MIT, Caltech, Rutgers, and here at UCLA. I have disseminated my results in multiple conferences and journals, more to come. I believe in the upcoming “Quantum Revolution”, and aim to contribute to the development and spreading of new technologies leading to a secure, advanced, and healthy world.

My Background

I am from Canakkale, Turkey, which is the heart of Dardanelles Strait and home of ancient city of Troy. I got my Bachelor’s degree with high honor from Electrical and Electronics Engineering at Middle East Technical University, Ankara, where I got admitted with a high distinction in National University Placement Exam (placed 2nd in social sciences and 16th in sciences area in Turkey). During my Bachelor’s degree, I was awarded by my university, Turkish Government and Turkish Educational Foundation (TEV) with scholarships of “Outstanding Success”.

Beginning from my junior year, I started my research activities under supervision of Prof. Serdar Kocaman on photonic integrated circuits and developed flexible components with amorphous photonic structures and modulators based on band-to-band transition. Due to my efforts, I had the chance to work as an undergraduate researcher at University of California, Los Angeles and also awarded with “Best Undergraduate Research Project” award by Middle East Technical University, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department. I got my Master’s degree from the same institution with highest distinction under the supervision of Prof. Serdar Kocaman with my work on experimental verification of flexible components in amorphous photonic structures. I have selected as a Fulbright scholar by bilateral Turkey-United States Fulbright commission and admitted to University of California, Los Angeles. I continue my research activities on quantum optics, communications and quantum information storage in this institution.

My Interests

My aim is to develop a quantum network that can be deployed directly, so it is vital for me to work on the generation, distribution, manipulation, and readout of the qubits. I would like my research to play a key role in connecting distributed quantum processor nodes together, whether they are based on superconducting qubits or solid-state NMR qubits, solving the key problems of photonic links and quantum memory nodes, while facilitating the test of the multi-party networking protocols devised by other groups. In the future, I would like to play an active role in standardization of network links among the quantum processors of different institutions.