Semonti Bhattacharyya

Bio:  Dr. Semonti Bhattacharyya joined the Leiden Institute of Physics in July 2022 as an Assistant Professor. In 2016, she completed her doctoral studies at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore (India). After a short postdoc at IISc, she moved to Monash University, Melbourne (Australia) to work as a postdoc in 2017. In 2019, she was awarded a fellowship from the ARC centre of excellence for future low energy electronics technology (FLEET).

As an experimental physicist Semonti’s research interest focuses on quantum transport measurements in quantum materials such as graphene, van der Waals heterostructures, and topological insulators. Her research group at Leiden is investigating the fabrication techniques of novel van der Waals heterostructures, and electrical transport measurements in them as a function of twist angle and pressure.

Federica Galli got her PhD in Leiden in the group of John Mydosh on the topic of strongly correlated electron systems and charge density waves. Then she did a postdoc in Leiden in the group of Jan Aarts where she developed extensive expertise in cryogenic and ultra high vacuum scanning probe microscopy. Having developed several cryogenic scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic manipulation capabilities in the cryogenic STM in the group of Jan van Ruitenbeek, now she is facility manager of the LION AFM Facility"

Steven explores superconductivity with novel experimental techniques. He studied Applied Physics at the Delft University of Technology, focussing on quantum nanoscience. He subsequently got his PhD in Delft by working on superconducting microwave resonators for light detection, in collaboration with SRON – Space Research Organization Netherlands. During this PhD, he focussed on quasiparticle excitations in disordered superconductors. As a postdoc in the Bhattacharyya group, he investigates superconductivity in van-der-Waals materials and heterostructures, by means of transport measurements with varying magnetic field and pressure.

Zhiyuan Cheng received his Bachelor's degree from Xi'an Jiaotong University (China) in 2020. He moved to Leiden in 2019 for his Bachelor's exchange year. From 2020, he continued his Master's studies in physics at Leiden University. During his Master's study, he joined Sense Jan van der Molen's group where he designed a low-energy electron emission gun for a transmission electron microscope (eV-TEM). Later, he did another Master's project with Kaveh Lahabi on the topic of building a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) on scanning probes. From March in 2023, he started his PhD research on magnetic proximity effect in van der Waals materials.

Jinyu Zhang received his Bachelor's degree in 2019 from Shenyang Aerospace University. His Bachelor's research focused on the refinement of aluminum alloy grains. In 2022, he earned his Master's degree from Northeastern University in China. During his Master's studies, he conducted theoretical computational research on magnetic storage technology, primarily studying magnetic skyrmions. He established the priority of different magnetic interactions affecting the skyrmion system and optimized the theoretical design of racetrack memory based on skyrmions and skyrmioniums. In July 2024, he joined the Leiden Institute of Physics to conduct experimental research on emergent states at the interfaces between ferromagnets and superconductors.

Victor Vreede received his Bachelor degree of Physics & Astronomy in 2023 from the University of Amsterdam and Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, where he completed his bachelor thesis titled 'laser-ARPES of cuprate strange metals'. He subsequently completed his master Applied Physics at Delft University of Technology. His Master thesis focused on studying the light-matter interaction of van der Waals multiferroic CuCrP₂S₆, using techniques such as X-ray diffraction, piezoresponse force microscopy, Raman spectroscopy and ellipsometry. He joined the Bhattacharyya group in february 2026 as a PhD candidate, where he studies moiré superlattices under extreme conditions, such as high magnetic fields and pressure, to probe emergent correlated states.

Thijs Hartmann completed both his Bachelor’s in Applied Physics and his Master’s in Quantum Information Science & Technology at Delft University of Technology. His bachelor thesis, titled “Measuring the Residual Magnetic Field in a Cryostat”, introduced him to magnetism, cryogenics, and data analysis. For his master’s project, he designed, fabricated, and measured diodic nanowire single-photon detectors. In October 2025, he joined the Bhattacharyya Lab and the Ali Lab in Delft as a joint PhD candidate to explore the quantum limit of friction. His work involves flake exfoliation and transfer, device fabrication at the Kavli Nanolab Delft, and cryogenic pressure measurements.