Personal profile

Research interests

Understanding spin and charge transport at the nanoscale is key to revealing the fundamental physics of quantum materials. In these systems—such as superconductors, topological insulators, and two-dimensional magnets—electrons do not behave independently, but instead exhibit strongly correlated, collective phenomena. Mapping spin and charge transport with high spatial resolution provides direct insight into the emergence of exotic electronic and magnetic phases, with relevance for future technologies in spintronics, low-power devices, and quantum computing. However, the weak and highly localized signals involved demand sensitive, nanoscale characterization tools.

To meet this challenge, I use nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond—quantum sensors that detect magnetic fields in the nanoscale. NV magnetometry enables non-invasive, high-resolution imaging of spin and charge dynamics across a broad range of conditions. It can reconstruct current flow, detect spin excitations, and map magnetic textures, making it a powerful tool for probing correlated phenomena in quantum materials.

My research focuses on advancing magnetic imaging techniques and applying them to explore quantum materials and devices. Current goals include:

  1. Visualize magnetic textures and spin excitations in low-dimensional magnets.

  2. Control spin transport using strain, gating, and interface engineering in heterostructures.

  3. Image nanoscale currents in superconductors and topological systems to uncover unconventional transport behavior.

My research makes use of Heriot-Watt’s Nanoscale Quantum Sensing facility which hosts a low-temperature scanning spin-based quantum sensor.

Biography

Samer Kurdi is an Assistant Professor at Heriot-Watt University at the Quantum Photonics Laboratory. He currently holds an NWO Veni fellowship (2024-2027) focusing on mapping spin dynamics in van der Waals materials.

Samer was awarded a Nanotechnology Engineering BASc in 2012 (University of Waterloo, Canada). Since then, he has had a diverse academic and entrepreneurial career in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Tanzania, Japan and the UK. His double-diploma MSc in Functionalized Advanced Materials and Engineering (FAME) at Grenoble INP (France) and TU Darmstadt (Germany) was fully-funded by a Erasmus Mundus scholarship.

Samer’s PhD, at the University of Cambridge (UK), was part of an innovative training network Marie Curie program called SELECTA, where his research focused on magnetic materials and spin-electronics (spintronics). Samer was a visting researcher at the National Institute of Materials (NIMS, Japan), University of Bielefeld (Germany) and the National Metrology Institute (INRiM, Italy) during this time.

Before joining Heriot-Watt University, Samer worked in quantum sensing using spins in diamond, spin dynamics and time-resolved optical magnetic charachterization at TU Delft and the University of Groningen in the Netherlands in the groups of Prof. Toeno van der Sar and Dr. Marcos H. D. Guimarães.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 6 - Clean Water and Sanitation
  • SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy
  • SDG 9 - Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities
  • SDG 12 - Responsible Consumption and Production
  • SDG 13 - Climate Action

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