Group

Current members

Asst Prof Bent Weber

I am interested in controlling and manipulating matter at the atomic-scale. An experimental technique that uniquely combines atomic-resolution imaging of material’s surfaces in real space, with atomic-precision lithographic surface modifications, is scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM).

I have more than ten years of experience in the atomic-scale nanostructuring of materials for applications in quantum information processing. I have obtained my PhD from the Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology at The University of New South Wales (UNSW), and have since worked as an Australian Research Council (ARC) DECRA fellow at the Centre for Atomically Thin Materials (MCATM) at Monash University, Australia. I am part of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Future Low Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) in Australia, where I remain an Associate Investigator.

I recently joined the School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) as a Nanyang Assistant Professor (NAP) and Singapore National Research Foundation (NRF) Fellow. At NTU, I am establishing a state-of-the-art low-temperature scanning probe laboratory for the atomic-scale nanostructuring of two-dimensional (2D) and topological materials' surfaces, to investigate their potential for future low-power electronics and quantum information processing applications.

Google Scholar: here
ResearchGate: here

Mr Ranjith Shivajirao

My research interests include topological insulators, novel superconducting phases, and strongly correlated electron systems.

I joined Weber lab as a PhD student in August2021 shortly after getting my masters in Physics from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) – Madras. For my master’s thesis I worked on Developing Effective tight binding models for dichalcogenides using Hamiltonian downfolding techniques. My research at Weber lab allows me to study both intrinsic and engineered topological insulators, some simultaneously hosting strongly correlated electronic phases, which could potentially lead to future quantum technology by using Low temperature (4K) and state-of-the-art ultra-low temperature (40mK) Scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy.

Other than physics, my hobbies are listening to music and watching movies.

Mr Amit Kumar

I joined the Weber lab in August 2021 as a Ph.D. student. My main research interest lies in exploring the topological and correlated phases in the designer materials. This includes the fabrication of the desired heterostructure via exfoliation, stacking, and MBE-based techniques. The primary experimental tool of my project is a scanning tunneling microscope that allows us to spectroscopically probe the device in a vectorized magnetic field and at mK temperature.


Before joining Weber Lab, I graduated (2021) from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) in India, where I was initially exposed to quantum materials. I was intrigued by the peculiar characteristics of topological materials, which inspired me to work in the Surface Science Lab, IITD, on the growth and spectroscopic/transport study of ferromagnetic insulator-topological insulator heterostructures.


In the realm of the classical world, my interest lies in a diverse tapestry of things that include trekking, swimming, cricket, video games, songs, and movies.

Dr Yande Que

My research interest is mainly focused on the investigation of growth, structure, as well as electronic and magnetic properties of the low-dimensional materials, especially the 2D magnetic monolayers or thin films. I joined the Weber lab in April 2021, where I utilize molecular beam epitaxy and scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate novel 2D quantum materials and heterostructures.

Prior to joining the Weber group, I worked in the Chinese University of Hong Kong for 5 years, where I focused my research on the low-dimensional materials and structures, as well as the construction of high-sensitivity electron spin resonance (ESR)-STM for detecting individual surface spins. I obtained my PhD degree from Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2015.

Dr Thasneem Aliyar

I was born and brought up in Kerala, a southern state in India and received my integrated BS/MS degree from Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Pune (IISERP). My MS research topic was the “Atomic Scale Investigation of Tin Selenide” using scanning tunnelling microscopy, under supervision by Dr Aparna Deshpande (IISERP). During my undergraduate studies, I have completed a diverse range of summer and semester projects, including 2D materials’ exfoliation and investigation using AFM and STM (IISERP), as well as research on photophoresis of carbon nanotubes (IISERP) and CO2 adsorption of rice husks by chemical activation (IISER Trivandrum). My interest in physics has been further deepened by reading projects spanning from band theory in solids to quantum entanglement (IISERP).

My research interests span synthesis, characterisations and applications which attracted me to Weber lab. I joined as a PhD student in July 2018 and I am interested in investigating and pondering the atomic level beauty and phenomenon of 2D materials. I finished my PhD in October 2023 and currently continuing my research at Weber lab as a project officer.

Apart from this I am fond of watching television series like Friends and Big Bang Theory. I also love scribbling short stories, listening music, singing and dancing

Mr Gagandeep Singh

I joined the Weber lab in August 2019 as a PhD student and will be developing an apparatus that allows studying optoelectronic properties of two-dimensional materials at the far sub-diffraction limit.

I am originally from Chandigarh, a small city located in the foothills of the Shivalik range of the Himalayas in north-west India. My undergraduate studies are a B.S-M.S dual degree program in Physics at Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. For my bachelor’s thesis, I built an interferometric setup for fabrication of optical Fiber Bragg Gratings (FBG) employing a deep UV Laser. My master’s research project was on the integration of exfoliated MoS2 with etched optical Fiber Bragg gratings to develop an ultrasensitive NO2 gas sensor. After graduating in 2017, I joined Prof. Arindam Ghosh’s Lab as Project Assistant and worked on optoelectronic properties of Gr/MoS2 vertical heterostructures.

In my leisure time, I like to do gardening, build robots and watch movies.

Mr Tong Zheng Jue

I joined Weber Lab as a PhD student in January 2021 and I am interested in synthesizing and characterizing nontrivial superconductivity in two-dimensional (2D) topological material.

I joined Weber Lab since August 2018 from NTU’s Undergraduate Research Experience on Campus (URECA) program. Since then, I have been working closely with the group to investigate and identify the superconductivity nature of 2D topological material by probing the sample using Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM). I obtained my BSc (Hons) in Physics degree from NTU in June 2021 and decided to continue my study in this field.

I am from Seremban which is the capital of Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia, a state located in between Kuala Lumpur and Melacca.

Aside from Physics, I love to travel to new places and enjoy exotic cuisine. Other than that, I also enjoy playing piano and listening to music

Former members

Dr Radha Krishnan

 After being born and raised in the archipelago of the Andaman Islands, I completed my bachelor's in electrical engineering in 2015 from the National Institute of Technology, Puducherry, India. From there, I proceeded to the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IITB) and worked as Research Assistant in Dr. Bhaskaran Muralidharan's Computational Nanoelectronics group. At IITB, I worked on problems related to performance analysis of quantum dot thermoelectrics, thereby slowly entering the quantum regime. I became a member of the Weber Lab in June 2017 as a Project Officer and followed it up with a Ph.D. working on gated quantum structures in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) semiconductors to investigate spin-valley states in them for potential application as qubits. Since August 2022, I have been working as a Research Fellow, steering the lab's research on investigating low-dimensional structures in 2D materials and emergent quantum phenomena in them for applications in quantum information processing. In the classical world, I am fond of nature & cultural exploration, music, singing (mostly retro Hindi songs), movies, philosophy, Cricket, Sudoku, and elephants.

Mr Junxiang Jia

I joined the Weber Lab in December 2018 and I am interested in synthesizing and characterizing two-dimensional (2D) and topological quantum materials, as well as searching features and principles of materials at the atomic level.

I received my Bachelor and Master degree from University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB). From 2014, I have been jointly trained by Institute of Electrical Engineering, Chinese Academy of Science (IEE, CAS). During my graduate study, a hierarchically micro/mesoporous nanocomposite of graphene and carbon nanospheres was synthesized and used as sulfur immobilizers for high-performance Li-S batteries, and flexible sulfur nanoparticles/carbon electrode was also developed and assembled to flexible soft-package batteries. I also have experience in studying cobalt-free perovskite membrane by first principles calculation.

I was born and raised in a small town called Burqin County in Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, which is located in the northwest of China. It is far away from Singapore but a comfortable place to live and an attractive place to travel. My hometown is famous for its beautiful landscape and there are thousands of people traveling there every year.

In my free time, I am a big fan of basketball and traveling and I also like swimming, playing guitar and listening to music.

Mr Duc-Quan HO

I am interested in characterizing and controlling atomically materials such as graphene and the layered transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) for and their applications in future topological electronics and quantum information. In particular, I am curious about how things work at the atomic scale.

I recently joined the Weber Lab in early 2018, where I use molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) to grow TMDCs material on various substrate platforms. Using in-situ low-temperature (4.2K) scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (APRES), we study these materials for their exotic electronic properties.

I started studying physics in 2010 at the High School for Gifted Students, Hanoi University of Science in Vietnam. I obtained my Bachelor’s in Physics (Honours) in 2017 from the Vietnam National University (VNU), University of Science. After graduating, I joined the Nano and Energy center of VNU where I gained some experience in fabricating super-hydrophobic surfaces by controlling nanoscale hierarchical structure using sputtering systems and thermal evaporation.

Aside from studying physics, I like travelling and exploring new places, playing chess, listening to music, swimming, playing guitar, as well as watching and playing football.

Dr Sangram Biswas

I joined Prof. Weber’s group in the beginning of 2021 where I am studying quantum dots in two-dimensional semiconductors. These devices, on their own, are interesting for studying fundamental physics of charge carriers in a confined potential and forces such as coulomb interaction. However, they can potentially be utilized as quantum bits, the building blocks of quantum computers. Prior to joining Prof. Weber's group, I studied interaction physics and scattering dynamics in Topological Insulator materials in Prof. Aveek Bid’s group in Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. Topological Insulators are one of the leading candidates with potential to make robust quantum bits for fault tolerant computing.

I also have some other interests apart from disturbing electrons at peace minding their own business in their ground states. I enjoy playing cricket, battle royal video games and making fun of Manchester United fans. I enjoy movies, sad music, and poor jokes. Poorer the better. I am an enthusiast photographer. I also like traveling, being outdoors, exploring different cultures and food

Dr Elizabeth Marcellina

My research interests are two-dimensional materials, electrical transport properties of semiconductor nanostructures, optoelectronics, and spintronics. I joined the Weber lab in December 2020, where I am working on van der Waals heterostructures especially on their optoelectronic and electrical transport properties.

Prior to joining to the Weber lab, I worked as a Research Fellow in Prof. Xiong Qihua's group at NTU (2018-2020), where I studied the optical properties of twisted van der Waals heterostructures and homobilayers. I obtained a PhD in physics from the University of New South Wales in Australia in 2017 and was a Research Fellow there until 2018, where I worked with Prof. Alex Hamilton and A/Prof. Dimitrie Culcer on the electrical transport properties of semiconductors with strong spin-orbit coupling.

In my spare time, I enjoy travelling, reading, and music

Dr Michael S. Lodge

My research interests are in controlling the electronic properties of 2D quantum materials for use in next generation electronics. In the Weber group, I utilize scanning tunneling microscopy to investigate the atomic- and spectroscopically-resolved electronic structures of 2D topological insulators, trivial insulators, and Dirac semimetals, as well as different mechanisms to tune their properties.

Prior to joining the Weber group, I worked in the Ishigami group at the University of Central Florida where I synthesized various 2D materials via chemical vapor deposition, and also investigated the high-speed tribological properties of graphene.

During my studies, I was also awarded the National Science Foundation’s EAPSI fellowship for a research stay at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, where I worked with Weber and Michael S. Fuhrer to resolve the electronic band structure and pseudospin properties of the Dirac nodal loop semimetal ZrSiS.

Dr Wei Tao

My research focuses on exotic electronic properties of 2D and topological quantum materials, as probed in scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). In particular, I am interested in properties such as electron pseudospin, chirality, and spin-valley coupling, as well as single molecule vibrational dynamics on surfaces via inelastic electron tunneling. STM is a unique surface characterization tool, which provides us with both sub-molecular resolution, as well as the local electronic density of states both in real and in reciprocal space by quasiparticle interference spectroscopy.

I received my PhD degree in 2013 from the University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei. I have since worked as a postdoc in the high magnet field laboratory (HFML), Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands, where I developed 4.2K Bitter magnet STM. From 2015, I continued my research career in the research group of Prof. Wilson Ho at the University of California, Irvine. I joined Prof. Weber’s lab in July 2017 where I am aiding the installation of a powerful combined STM-MBE-ARPES system, from which I am expecting insightful experimental results towards our understanding of the properties of 2D and topological electronic systems.

Dr Pham Tuan Anh

I have devoted almost a decade to study various low-dimensional materials, such as molecular networks, graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, using a combination of scanning probe microscopy and photoemission techniques. My current research work in the Weber’s laboratory at NTU is placed on the molecular beam epitaxy of two-dimensional topological insulators. This is triggered by their unique quantum electronic properties and promise in future electronic and quantum devices. I aim to contribute deepen the understanding of atomically thin topological phases, and their application in prospective quantum electronic devices.

Before joining the Weber’s lab in July 2019, I worked as a research fellow in various research institutes, including University of Groningen (the Netherlands), University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Germany) and Institute for Basic Science (Korea). I have received my Ph.D. degree in physics from University of Groningen.

I was born in Nha Trang, a beach city located on the coast of South-Central Vietnam, where is a nice tourist destination, for both international and domestic market. My hobbies are playing football, travelling, reading books and watching movies.

Dr Jayanta Kumar Mishra

I work in the field of 2D and topological materials, specialising on the WHM groups, composed of W (Zr, Hf, La), H (Si, Ge, Sn, Sb) and M (Se, Te, O, S). These materials are interesting for their fundamental physical properties, in terms of electronic structure and electron transport properties. Some of these quasi-2D materials materials belong to the class of topological nodal-line Dirac semimetals in which conduction band and valence band touch along a closed path in momentum space, instead of at point-like Dirac nodes. I am working towards the possibility of so-called ‘’2D TI topotronics devices”.

Before joining the Weber group, worked on 2D material such as TMDC (WSe2, MoS2) and graphene for optoelectronics applications in the group of Prof Arindam Ghosh at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Vertical heterostructures, based on graphene/TMDC, have shown ultrahigh optical responsivity (109 A/W), a consequence of the combining two different properties of graphene and TMDCs: high carrier mobility of graphene and light sensitivity of TMDCs. The interface provides the path for very fast charge transfer from TMDC to graphene.

Dr Dharmraj Kotekar Patil

My research is focussed on investigating electronic properties in low-dimensional nanostructures and to harness new quantum mechanical phenomena for applications in quantum information. In this exciting field, my research interest ranges from two-dimensional electronic materials to one-dimensional nanowire systems, and quantum dots. These structures are interesting due to the possibility of a high degree of control using nanofabrication techniques. These structures are studied at low temperature (below 4.2K down to millikelvin temperature in dilution refrigerators) where quantum phenomena dominate.

Before joining the Weber group at NTU, I have worked at the University of Pittsburgh in the Frolov group, exploring Ge/Si core/shell nanowires as a platform for quantum computing. Later on, I moved to CEA-Grenoble. working on silicon CMOS devices to implement spin qubits on transistors fabricated using industrial processes.