Unveiling the Superpowers of Ferroelectrics with Ipek Efe

Dive into the fascinating world of ferroelectrics with Ipek Efe, a PhD student at ETH Zurich, as she discusses her research, career journey, and the exciting potential of these powerful materials. Discover how her work can revolutionize technology and explore the life of a scientist beyond the lab.

About the Guest:

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Key Takeaways from This Episode of Under the Microscope

1. Ferroelectrics Explained Simply:
   • Ipek Efe breaks down the complex science of ferroelectric materials, comparing them to magnets but with electric charges instead of magnetic poles. This helps in understanding their unique properties and applications.
2. From Turkey to Zurich:
   • Ipek’s inspiring journey from Turkey to ETH Zurich showcases the dedication and passion required to excel in the field of material science. Her path includes a pivotal internship at CERN that ignited her interest in ferroelectrics.
3. Cutting-Edge Research on Ferroelectrics:
   • Ipek’s current research focuses on thin film ferroelectrics, aiming to improve their properties and functionality. This work has the potential to revolutionize various technologies, from sensors to memory devices.
4. Balancing Life and Science:
   • Beyond her research, Ipek emphasizes the importance of maintaining a balance between work and personal life. This provides a holistic view of the life of a scientist.
5. Three Wishes for Science:
   • Ipek shares her aspirations for the future of scientific research, highlighting the need for interdisciplinary collaboration, better funding, and increased public engagement in science.

In This Episode, We Cover:

Ipek Efe’s Research:

Ipek dives deep into her groundbreaking research on ferroelectric materials, which have the unique ability to maintain a polarized state even after an electric field is removed. These materials hold immense potential for various applications, from non-volatile memory devices to advanced sensors and actuators. Ipek focuses on developing these materials as thin films, aiming to enhance their properties and make them more efficient and reliable for technological use. Her work promises significant advancements in the way we understand and utilize ferroelectrics, paving the way for new innovations in electronics and materials science.

Ipek Efe’s Career Journey:

Ipek’s journey from Turkey to ETH Zurich is a testament to her dedication and passion for science. She shares her academic path, starting with her early education in Turkey, where she developed a strong interest in physics and materials science. Her journey took a pivotal turn during an internship at CERN, the renowned European Organization for Nuclear Research, where she was exposed to cutting-edge research and collaborative projects. This experience solidified her interest in ferroelectrics and set her on the path to her current PhD studies at ETH Zurich. Ipek’s story is an inspiring narrative of perseverance, curiosity, and the pursuit of scientific excellence.

Ipek Efe’s Favorite Research Experiment:

In this episode, Ipek shares the details of her most thrilling research projects, focusing on the development of fatigue-resistant ferroelectrics. She explains the challenges involved in creating materials that can withstand repeated cycles of polarization without degrading. Ipek’s experiments involve intricate processes and innovative techniques to enhance the durability and performance of these materials. Her enthusiasm for discovering new phenomena in materials science is contagious, as she describes the eureka moments and the meticulous work that goes into every breakthrough.

Life as a Scientist – Beyond the Lab:

Ipek opens up about the importance of balancing her demanding research with personal interests and hobbies. She discusses how she manages her time, ensuring that she maintains a healthy work-life balance. Ipek enjoys activities such as hiking, reading, and exploring new cultures, which help her stay grounded and inspired. Her insights provide a holistic view of the life of a scientist, highlighting the need for relaxation and personal fulfillment alongside professional achievements.

Ipek Efe’s Three Wishes:

In a reflective segment, Ipek shares her vision for the future of scientific research. She emphasizes the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, where scientists from different fields come together to solve complex problems. Ipek also advocates for increased funding for fundamental research, recognizing that many breakthroughs come from curiosity-driven exploration. Lastly, she stresses the need for greater public engagement in science, encouraging a broader appreciation and understanding of scientific endeavors. These wishes reflect her hopes for a more connected, well-funded, and publicly engaged scientific community.

Ipek Efe’s Time on RealSci_Nano:

Ipek talks about her involvement with RealSci_Nano, a platform designed to foster collaboration among scientists. She highlights the significance of building a strong scientific community to drive innovation and progress. RealSci_Nano provides a space for researchers to share their work, exchange ideas, and form partnerships that can lead to groundbreaking discoveries. Ipek’s experience with RealSci_Nano underscores the value of community and collaboration in advancing scientific knowledge and making impactful contributions to the field.

Transcript

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: [00:00:00] Hi, everyone. Welcome to Under the Microscope. My name is Pranothi. I’m your host. And today, Under the Microscope, we have Ipek Efe, who is a PhD student at the ETH Zurich, which is in Switzerland. Not so far away from me. So hi, Ipek. Welcome to under the microscope. How are you doing? Hi, Prenety. Thanks a lot for having me today.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: I’m very happy to be here. Um, I’m doing pretty good. Um, so a summer can’t be bad. Please tell me what are you doing? What is your research? I mean, I don’t mean to ask you what you’re doing in life. I mean, of course, I would be interested in knowing that as well. But what I what are you doing at ETS Zurich?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Tell me your research. All right. So I’m a doctoral student. Uh, I just finished my second year and my research is focusing on, um, some materials called ferroelectric materials. And that sounds a bit unfamiliar, but actually it’s a very familiar concept. So you probably know the magnets, right? The ones that are sticking to our fridges.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So these materials I call this ferromagnetic. So they have this magnetic field inside kind of, and there’s this two poles. North and South. So we probably played all of us, uh, as a kid to with these two sides. So this is a polarization, but in the magnetic side, but [00:01:00] with the ferroelectric, we basically have a very similar, like analogous or same same concept, but instead of the magnetic field, we have electric charges.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So in these materials, spontaneously, so naturally, we have positive charges and negative charges separated in the unit cell or in the material. So one side is positive, the other side is negative, just like one side is north and one side is south in the, in the magnetics. And so these materials have this charge separation naturally inside, uh, and then, uh, they can be useful for, uh, many things.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Um, so my, um, research is focusing on growing this material in the tin film format. And how thin I’m talking about. So usually my films are like, um, let’s say can be one unit cell, which is like two atomic layers, uh, up to, um, you know, 10 or 20, 30 in itself, but usually in the nanometer range, like not more than 15 nanometers usually.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I’m growing this kind of ferroelectric materials like the crystal, uh, growth and in the thin film thin film. Uh, [00:02:00] and then I’m trying to improve their properties by Like develop, insert some new functionalities inside and, um, this kind of things. Okay. Interesting. So what kind of materials are we talking about here?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Um, Like iron or like what I use so my materials are like I’m focusing on oxides So it’s a ceramic and my material usually have like three or four different types of atoms and it’s a solid material So it’s crystal structure So like so specifically it’s called as metal oxides Uh, there’s usually two metals inside, like for example, bismuth ferrite, bismuth iron oxide.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So there is bismuth iron and oxygen. Um, um, so usually the oxygen is always common and the first two atoms can change and there can be even four different types of, or five actually, depending on how complex you want to go, uh, or how different properties you want to have. But you probably, maybe some people heard about, you know, PZT.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Okay. That’s. Piezoelectric material that’s [00:03:00] also a part of this family. And then in PZT, we have lead, zirconium, titanium, and oxygen. So it’s the same, very similar crystal structure, but just the different atoms inside. Yeah. If you heard about PZT, you probably heard about piezoelectrics. So piezoelectrics, uh, just to give it a small recap, piezoelectrics are the materials where this, um, this electric polarization, just like in the ferroelectrics, uh, happens.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So the charges are separated and there’s an internal electric field and it is coupled to the, to the structure mechanically. So when I press on it, or when I put a pressure on it, I can induce an electric field. some internal electric field of polarization and vice versa. When I put an electric field, I can make a change in the material.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: I can make extent or like, you know, compress and like stuff like this. And actually all ferroelectrics are also piezoelectrics. So these are coupled to each other. So ferroelectrics are actually very cool because they combine different [00:04:00] things within themselves. Like all of them are piezoelectrics.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Piezoelectrics. So the mechanical structure is coupled to this electric order and they are also photovoltaics. So they can get, uh, you know, they can absorb sunlight and then they can like create this electric field. Or at the same time, um, they are also pyroelectric, uh, which means I’m talking about a lot of electric stuff.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then the first part of the word, which basically tells you the, um, the energy type, the resource, energy, energy resource. The pyro is like for the heat and temperature. So we can also control this material by using temperature change and, and, and they’re also ferroelastic, uh, which comes again with this, um, mechanical structure and the electric polarization coupling.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Oh my God. Talk about a lot of ferros. Oh my God. This is, Oh my god, this is so cool and I’m still stuck on the point that you mentioned so it’s like Ceramics, so are we talking about you being the witch who is making the [00:05:00] ceramics electric or magnetic? Yes, exactly. So these are ceramics as a class of materials.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then we, we use, we usually call them in our field as electro ceramics. Uh, so they have this electrical functionality, um, like piezoelectrics or ferroelectrics. So because they have this electrical functionality, it’s pretty cool. pretty cool. Actually, we can use this materials. Like, for example, there’s so many applications, but one part is like sensors.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So, you know, we can give the sunlight or another like light or we can have some kind of a mechanical, you know, pressure sensor or mechanical sensor or temperature sensor. And because There is this electric component coupled to it. All of these different energy sources creates this electric response so that, uh, we can insert this material in our electronics.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Uh, and then, you know, have the, all the circuits and devices on top of them. So that’s actually pretty cool because they are pretty controllable. So we can control with, control them basically with so many [00:06:00] different ways. And that, of course, opens a lot of applications. Oh, wow. This is I could I could ask you so many questions.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: I could just continue on this and learn more and more. This is like my personal crash course into ferroelectrics or, uh, electric ceramics or electrifying ceramic. Sorry, I will stop myself now. But yeah. Okay. How did how did this happen? Right? How did you end up in Zurich working on These uber cool materials like how did, how did this happen?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Tell me about your journey so far. Sure. Um, so I’m from, uh, Turkey. Uh, so I did my, uh, primary and high school in Turkey and then my bachelor Turkey as well in Sabancı University, uh, in material science. In Istanbul. Okay. So I finished my, um, bachelor’s. Um, so in my bachelor’s I worked on a slightly different topic.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I was working on luminescent materials. So the materials that glow in the dark and again, some ceramics. Uh, but then I had an internship. So I think for me, My interest started with that internship. So, um, I did a summer research internship at CERN. Um, so in Geneva and there I was working on a material [00:07:00] called bismuth iron oxide.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So this bismuth ferrite, we call it, uh, this bismuth iron oxide is a ferroelectric material. Same time. It also has a magnetic order and two things are coupled to each other. So, it’s possible to control the magnetism by using electric fields, or control the electric polarization by using magnetic fields.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Okay. That’s pretty useful because, for example, in our, like, daily lives, we have these magnetic memories, right, in our computers, these hard disks and so. Mm hmm. Memory devices are magnetic and then to switch them we need to have a small magnetic field. So to switch means that storing information in them.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Creating magnetic fields is very costly because we need to have a very high electric current and then like it costs a lot of energy to us. And the cool thing about this bismuth iron oxide, is because there is this electric and magnetic order is coupled, we can switch this magnetism like from north to south, you know, or like this, um, we can store the [00:08:00] information by using only a small electric field.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And because we don’t use current, we don’t use so much electricity. We don’t lose so much to the, you know, heating up with the current and all this resistance and stuff. So that’s why these materials are very promising candidates, uh, for future energy efficient electronics. And, um, when I was working on this material in my summer internship, I was very interested because that sounds very cool.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Uh, and then, uh, afterwards when I applied. For my master’s, I already kind of knew what I was interested in. And the ETH series in the master’s program, you’re supposed to do three research projects. Uh, so one big one, but two small ones. So I did several projects on this field, um, both, um, computational and experimental.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then I decided that I like, uh, this area a lot, uh, these are super cool. And, uh, this is a very, um, fastly developing field. So it’s relatively a young field, but it’s super [00:09:00] fastly improving and getting popular. And I think there’s so many potential that is waiting to be discovered. And then I, because I liked it so much, I was like, ah, I want to do a PhD on it.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then I continue it. Yeah. Now I’m doing an experimental research on ferroelectrics. Oh, that is so cool. That’s quite a journey you’ve had. And. There are so many interesting projects that you mentioned that you’re working on. So now I want to know, please don’t hate me, one research project that you’re most proud of, or the most fun or quirky one, and please tell me about it in super simple words.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Okay. In the section we call in other words. All right. So I think the one that the most proud of, they’re all very fun. But, um, I think I can talk about my current research because that’s the one that is still developing and it’s still like super new and exciting. Um, so I talked about how great are this ferroelectrics material, like ferroelectrics.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Um, but usually [00:10:00] there’s like, um, a limitation of them or something to. So or develop and the problem with this ferroelectrics or let’s say the Challenge is when we use these materials, like for example, I put them in my device and I use them You know, I turn it on and off and then I store information in them and First few cycles, it’s fine.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I first few times it’s okay. It’s not even few first hundreds and thousands of times It’s okay. But once we start using them for like, you know million times Using them means that storing a single information, for example, or, you know, opening and closing, or, you know, putting an electric in the current, um, the, um, the circuit or not.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then once we start using them more and more, so after like a million or billion cycle, then they kind of lose their functionality. So we cannot control this polarization anymore. Uh, and that’s called as fatigue. So material fatigues. And that’s like one of the biggest challenges are, you know, but one of the biggest things to [00:11:00] solve before we put these things in our devices.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Um, so, and why this fatigue happening actually, because, um, there is, because talking about crystals, so atoms ordered in a structure. And then of course, uh, in real life, nothing is perfect. So this crystals always have some defects, which means that, you know, missing atoms, uh, or other kind of, um, you know, Imperfections in a way, uh, in the, in the structure, right?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And, um, because this imperfections kind of starts, you know, uh, pinning the polarization, they act against us. So we cannot control anymore. Uh, this fatigue happens. And, uh, so, so solve this problem. Actually, we need to look at the crystal, right? Because we need to get rid of these defects. Uh, and there is actually one crystal, uh, called this Orvilius.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So, uh, it’s a name and then so, um, and these are risk structures are in a way, self healing because this, they have a super complex unit cell. So, uh, they consist of [00:12:00] two building blocks, like some standard kind of building blocks, but yeah. Did you say self healing? Did you, did you? I said kind of a self healing.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: We can say it as a self healing. So if I drop it on the floor, then they would still be like, they would be able to get, like, this would be super useful for me because I’m very clumsy and I drop my phone at all times. All right. So, okay. So maybe it’s not as macro scale. So the, the self healing I’m talking about, still cool.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Very cool. Yeah, yeah. Okay. South feeling. Mm-Hmm. . Uh, so in this material, there are two building blocks. Let’s say the, the part that have like standard fair electrics have the crystal structure and these are separated and there is a layer in between another kind of crystal structure. Mm-Hmm. and discharge.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: The structure is highly charged, so it has a lot of electrons and you know, like a lot of. ionic charges. Uh, and then because this layer is there, it’s kind of whenever there is this effect of the defects layer, um, compensates this effect contracts [00:13:00] this, the negative effect of the, this imperfections in the crystal.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Uh, so in a way it kind of fixes the effect. So it kind of heals this electric fatigue in the structure. And these materials, um, have actually no fatigue, so you can, you know, use them like trillions and so many times, and then they still are functioning. So they are pretty cool because they kind of solve a problem of ferroelectrics.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Uh huh. We talked about how great are they. Uh, and so these are, these materials are great, but there’s one hard thing about them, because the structure is very complex. Uh huh. So it’s very hard for us. to make a film out of them, or, you know, grow them. So my research lies in there, or not only grow, but also controlling the polarization, because they are very complex.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: They tend to, you know, do their own thing. And then like, we cannot really control them. And then, so my research is about, you know, having this control over this, or a various, uh, compound and then seeing the polarization and controlling it or engineering it in a, in a [00:14:00] nice way. Uh, so what I do in the lab is that we have this technique, It’s called second harmonic generation.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: I’m not gonna go into details, but basically we have a laser that we shoot The material that is growing and when this material is ferroelectric or polar, let’s say it emits Some kind of wavelength the like it emits half of the wavelength of what we send And then when we detect that, we can understand what’s happening to the polarization while we are growing the film.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: That’s very cool because usually if we don’t have this, it’s kind of a black box. You know, we have our growth chamber. We don’t know what’s happening. We grow something, but we characterize only afterwards. We don’t see it while we are. actually making the material, uh, we cannot control it very well. We can see it by using these fancy optics and lasers.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And so, uh, and then once we can see it, then I can say, okay, uh, all right. So now, for example, the polarization is increasing and then it’s not. It’s decreasing sharply and then increases so I can directly see what is happening to the polarization. So what, uh, what we [00:15:00] have been able to do in the lab was resolving the polarization dynamics of this material and seeing for the first time that it has a two step behavior.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So that actually is impossible to record at the end of the growth. So you need to see it during the growth. And then we were able to capture that. And once we see that, then. Then we engineered it. So we added some other materials inside. Actually, the one that I mentioned, uh, bismuth iron oxide, bismuth ferrite in the crystal.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And then we achieved the perfect crystal quality that looks like a naturally grown, you know, or like a It’s a grown material and but with a different characteristics. So what we did was like getting some cool property from this bismuth ferrite and putting in this putting it in this self healing framework So that we would have like a net Polarization that is you know, like not having any fatigue and like not degrading.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So this was for the first time that actually like, um, we were able to do such a thing and then see how does this evolve [00:16:00] and how, how we can engineer it. And that’s why to me, it’s still interesting and very exciting. And I think the more exciting part is like that it worked. So we saw that now we can insert different materials within this framework.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So now what we’re going to do is like, you know, adding, whatever functionality we want, adding some magnetism inside, maybe some superconducting, uh, material inside and then, you know, creating all this different, uh, polarizations. Oh, wow. That is so cool. That is so cool. But now you told everyone the secret or what your future plans are.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Now everyone else is going to jump on the bandwagon and take your ideas and do it, which is awesome for the future. for the research part of science. But this is really cool. Oh, wow. Almost self healing. I need to remember that. Almost. Self healing effect, we can say. Self healing effect, yes. Self healing tendencies.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Yes. Something like that. Oh, wow. That is so cool. I, I totally understand why you picked this project as the one that, let’s go with one of the projects that you’re proud of. Yeah. Not [00:17:00] like we’re not playing favorites here, but well, we kind of are. You just did. Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So it’s, it’s, it’s, uh, very clear to me, Ipek, that you are, you really enjoy the research aspect of being a scientist, like going in the lab, doing the experiments and like, ooh, data analysis and everything.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: What else do you like about being a scientist? Um, I think being a scientist is very cool in different ways. Like, so depending on like, for example, for a PhD student, uh, depending on where do you do it, um, you can have a lot of teaching duties or, you know, you can be really together with students. And I really enjoyed that part.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I like supervising students and, uh, doing some teaching. And I think, um, that adds a lot to it. to my life to, you know, have always some fresh mind and fresh blood and so like coming and changing. Uh, I think that is very nice. And what I also enjoy about being scientist is like especially material scientist.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: I think with material scientist, we have like a more or less a rough idea about most of the stuff around us. And I really like, [00:18:00] you know, looking at things around me and there’s like, Oh, okay. So this is a metal and this can be dead. This can be, so like making some kind of, uh, hypothesis and stuff. So I like the awareness or, you know, it’s being a scientist makes me a bit more mindful to me and what’s going on around me and it’s like all this stuff happening in the nature and so, uh, and, uh, that’s very, um, interesting.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Nice. I like it. I also like that. I think being a scientist teaches you how to learn stuff and also have to get the information and you know, like how to find the reliable information. So I like all these aspects of being a scientist. I think it’s a great life. That is so cool. That is really, really cool.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Yeah, absolutely. I especially, I love working with students. They are so cool. They just come up with so many cool ideas and [00:19:00] such fresh perspective. It’s like, Oh, yeah, I hadn’t thought about it. This is this is really, really cool. That’s awesome. So you think it sounds to me that your research experience has been wonderful so far, or you’re just sharing the highlights with me?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: If you had three wishes to improve your research experience, what would you ask for? And I’m not promising anything. Okay. Yes. Um, yeah, I feel like I cannot complain in general about, uh, my research life is going pretty all right and pretty enjoyable. Uh, but of course I guess everything can be improved. Um, and I guess for me, the first part would be a bit more, you know, um, I guess as a scientist, We should talk to each other more.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Um, so, you know, like I’m in a small field of ferroelectrics. I communicate my research, uh, you know, in the conferences and other part in other ways, but usually I’m mostly exposed on, um, like this part of the science. And basically I, I [00:20:00] rarely have, and, you know, some talk with the biologists, for example, or even like other scientists.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And I think as scientists. At least I would like to have a bit more, you know, interdisciplinary aspect of it, because I think it would bring a lot of creativity and a lot of creative ideas, um, to, you know, some, solve some challenges. Uh, so I think to improve my research experience, I would actually would love to be, you know, or, Like, usually it’s easy to say, you know, ah, yeah, let’s do some like collaboration and interdisciplinary.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: But most of the researchers are in such a kind of a rush or, you know, this pressure of getting stuff out in their own fields, including myself. they might neglect to talk to other scientists. So I think that would improve my research very well, uh, in a way that it would make it much more creative, uh, to communicate with different, um, like, fields, let’s say.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Not only even natural sciences, like even, you know, human sciences, would be super useful. I think another thing would be, um, I think we should also really emphasize science communication with public because it is very important. And most of the [00:21:00] time, the research is funded by public funds. But on top of that, it’s just important to, you know, communicate and encourage the public to think critically and, uh, you know, know the facts, the nature of facts around us.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And so, uh, and I think that is very important, but it’s usually also what I see, like, it’s getting much better for sure. Like science communication is getting more and more, um, like, uh, highlighted and like getting more aspect and spotlight, but I think we should do a better job. there. Like we should communicate our research to the public more and have these discussions with the public more.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: And I think it is always very beneficial to actually talk about your research to someone has no clue about it because it makes you realize, Oh, actually, I don’t understand this part very well. I need to look that or, you know, like, okay, maybe it is like this. So it’s very useful for both sides. So we should think more and I think it should be, you know, really encouraged by the institutions, uh, that like, that should be a, like a default thing that we do, [00:22:00] like communicate most of the time, often, uh, and the third time is, I guess I would love to have a bit more free time to, you know, some crazy projects because sometimes I feel like, um, the research funds can be tight.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So you have a limited duration of. Your proposal that you need to get some results on. So you really work on that proposal and nothing and that project and nothing else. But I guess it would be cool to have, you know, like a half day or a one day or something, uh, to do something totally, maybe unrelated to your project, but still an interest to you.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Uh, and then work on that kind of projects. I think that would also bring a lot of creativity in the work. That’s the three wishes I have. They’re a bit hard, but it’s not possible, not impossible. I think it’s impossible, right? And the first thing is to put your wishes out there in the world and then see how, how they are coming to life to whatever extent they are.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: But no, this is All of this makes sense, like the [00:23:00] interdisciplinary communicating science to the public, not just because it’s like the taxpayer money. Uh, it’s, it’s also because the public is interested. Yeah, totally. They are interested in knowing what, what are we doing in the lab and They, uh, yeah, they are interested, they just don’t know where to find the information.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So they don’t have access or they don’t know how to read the research papers or so. And how many research papers are they going to read? So if I may say, under the microscope is the, is a very good step in that direction. And congratulations for that. I really admire like everyone working on the public, uh, science communication because, you know, it’s usually always, um, as a hobby or a side job.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So that like, it’s always puts extra effort and extra motivation. And what you’re doing is great. Again. Congratulations. Thank you. I didn’t I didn’t mean I actually meant it the other way around that you coming on the podcast is already you’re walking the talk. This is like a two sided activity.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Absolutely. This is so cool. So it has [00:24:00] been wonderful speaking with you. But before I let you go, I want to ask you, as part of featuring on under the microscope as material scientists, do you also get the keys to To the Real Scientist Nano Twitter account. for a week or two or longer. Uh, what can the followers expect?

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: The Twitter followers expect in the week that you are taking over the Real Scientists Nano Twitter account? Tell me. Yeah. So, I mean, I guess first I’m going to introduce myself to them and who am I and what am I doing? And I think they can expect a lot of stuff about ferroelectrics. So it will be like ferroelectrics under the spotlight.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I’m going to share, you know, the latest news and, um, what has been. Improved and what is the future aspects of Fair Electrics? And I think I’m going to share, uh, how my, um, day in a lab, uh, passes through, because maybe it can inspire somebody or so. And then, uh, maybe I’m going to talk about the techniques that I use.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: So I, we have some fancy lasers, uh, and so, so it can be interesting. Um, [00:25:00] and yeah, I guess then I am going to also talk about ETH and being a student at the Department of Materials, um, uh, and space. Uh, like the highlight of the research in my group, so people can get a bit more familiar with the field. Um, yeah, I guess, uh, that’s more or less, uh, my plans.

Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Okay, that sounds really cool. I cannot wait to take a lab tour with you when you are taking over the Twitter account, also the campus, and please show us the coffee machine as well. We have a very nice coffee machine, Mike. Yeah, that’s what I’ve heard. Yeah. I’ve at least I can, uh, I can see it, but yeah, do share, do show us your fancy lasers and everything else and do show us your lab, your campus, everything, uh, that sounds really cool.Superpowers of Ferroelectrics ft. Ipek Efe #UnderTheMicroscope #205 _ Pranoti: Thank you Ipek for taking the time speaking with me. This has been wonderful and cannot wait to follow your tweets on Real Scientist Nano. Thank you so much for having me here. I really enjoy talking with you and, uh, yeah, I can’t wait to share as well. Um, Thanks a lot. That’s a great opportunity and that’s a great work you’re [00:26:00] doing.