Graduate Studies
Postgraduate programs coordinated by the Physics Department
Physics and Technological Applications
The Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program 'Physics and Technological Applications' (M.Sc. in Physics) has been, since 2005, the continuation and evolution of the first pre-doctoral cycle of studies in Physics that was founded and organized in Greece by the NCSR 'Demokritos' in the 1960s, with the synergy, among others, of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). Graduates of this historic cycle have successfully staffed all Physics Departments and Research Centers in the country, while many have pursued brilliant careers abroad.
The IPGP aims to enhance Basic Research in Physics at the postgraduate level, while simultaneously cultivating its Technological Applications addressed by the collaborating Sections of the School of Applied Mathematical and Physical Sciences (SAMPS) and the School of Mechanical Engineering of the NTUA, as well as the NCSR 'Demokritos'.
Its purpose is the high-level education of scientists and engineers, with in-depth study and specialization in the fields of Physics and its Technological Applications, leading to the award of a Master of Science (M.Sc.) Degree, whose holders will be suitably qualified—should they wish to—to pursue their doctoral dissertation (Ph.D.) in Greece or abroad. The ultimate goal of the program is for its graduates to work in research and development, to staff research centers, academic units, and serve as executives in Public and Private Enterprises and Organizations, and in Higher Education Institutions.
On an international level, despite the program being characterized as a Master of Science in Physics, it is essentially an advanced, pre-doctoral cycle of study, similar to corresponding postgraduate programs offered by European and American universities.
Microsystems and Nanodevices
The Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program 'Microsystems and Nanodevices' aims to educate young scientists in the field of Microsystems and Nanodevices. These areas of science and technology have been rapidly developing in recent years, a trend expected to continue in the coming decades. Microsystems are constructed at the same microscopic level as integrated circuits, following the same logic of batch fabrication that was catalytic in the development of classical microelectronics.
The resulting application fields are extremely broad, encompassing activities related to health, the environment, energy saving, and telecommunications—issues of daily concern to the citizen.
When the characteristic size of any type of device that a microsystem may include is smaller than 100 nm, one enters the realm of Nanotechnology. Although Nanotechnology touches upon a very wide range of activities, the emphasis of this postgraduate program will be on directions where nanotechnology meets microsystems technology for the fabrication of electronic nanodevices and sensors.
Drawing knowledge from many different areas to implement these technologies creates the need to adopt an interdisciplinary approach. In a postgraduate program focusing on Microsystems and Nanodevices, we include: a) fundamental courses that aid in the understanding of nanotechnology-related problems at the atomic or molecular level, such as the Physics of Nanoscale Materials and Devices, and b) specialization courses that adopt a macroscopic-phenomenological approach, and even a system-level approach.