Alumni
Former group members
Former postdoctoral researchers, project researchers, students, and visitors contributed to the group's work on batteries, defects, gapped metals, two-dimensional materials, and Casimir-Lifshitz physics.
Alumni
Former group members
Former group members contributed to the research program through postdoctoral work, project research, student projects, internships, and research visits.
Dr. Mathias Bostrom
Senior researcher - January 2024 - December 2025
Mathias, a long-term collaborator, joined the group as principal investigator of the Polonez Bis
ACT:MEE project that he secured for work on Applied Casimir theory. His group work connected
Casimir-Lifshitz physics, fluctuation forces, ice growth, and off-stoichiometric gapped metals, and he
completed the project successfully.
Funding: POLONEZ BIS, 2022/47/P/ST3/01236.
Project period: 2024 - 2025.
Open papers and outputs
Dr. Mathias Bostrom
Senior researcher - January 2024 - December 2025Mathias, a long-term collaborator, joined the group as principal investigator of the Polonez Bis ACT:MEE project that he secured for work on Applied Casimir theory. His group work connected Casimir-Lifshitz physics, fluctuation forces, ice growth, and off-stoichiometric gapped metals, and he completed the project successfully.
- Mechanism for ice growth on the surface of a spherical water droplet, Physical Review B, 2025.
- Impact of metal oxidation on growth and melting of ice, Physical Review B, 2025.
- Beyond attraction: a novel approach to repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz Forces using controllable off-stoichiometry in gapped metals, Physics Letters A, 2025.
- Casimir-Lifshitz force variations across heterogeneous gapped metal surfaces, Physical Review B, 2024.
Dr. Samir Rom
Postdoctoral researcher - June 2025 - November 2025Samir received his Ph.D. from the University of Calcutta in India and joined ENSEMBLE3 as part of the KeyTech project. His work focused on theoretical descriptions of hard-carbon electrode materials for Na-ion batteries, linking atomistic modeling to the current battery-materials program.
Dr. Harshan Reddy Gopidi
Research assistant - September 2022 - December 2023
Harshan completed a BS-MS dual degree at IISER Pune in 2022. In the group he worked on doping physics
in quantum materials, the physics of gapped metals, and post-processing codes for band-filling
correction. He also designed tools for analyzing gapped-metal properties and, with Lovelesh,
contributed to the understanding of noble-gas defects in functional oxides. He later joined a Ph.D.
program at the University of Houston.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Dr. Harshan Reddy Gopidi
Research assistant - September 2022 - December 2023Harshan completed a BS-MS dual degree at IISER Pune in 2022. In the group he worked on doping physics in quantum materials, the physics of gapped metals, and post-processing codes for band-filling correction. He also designed tools for analyzing gapped-metal properties and, with Lovelesh, contributed to the understanding of noble-gas defects in functional oxides. He later joined a Ph.D. program at the University of Houston.
- Unveiling defect physics in gapped metals: A theoretical investigation into defect formation and electronic structure interplay, Journal of Materials Informatics, 2025.
- Casimir-Lifshitz force variations across heterogeneous gapped metal surfaces, Physical Review B, 2024.
- Physics of band-filling correction in defect calculations of solid-state materials, RSC Advances, 2024.
- Temperature-induced suppression of structural disproportionation in paramagnetic quantum materials, Journal of Applied Physics, 2024.
- Tuning the Casimir-Lifshitz force with gapped metals, Physical Review B, 2023.
- Noble gas functional defect with unusual relaxation pattern in solids, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023.
- Understanding ice and water film formation on soil particles by combining density functional theory and Casimir-Lifshitz forces, Physical Review B, 2023.
- Optical properties and electronic structures of intrinsic gapped metals: inverse materials design principles for transparent conductors, Applied Physics Letters, 2023.
- Spontaneous off-stoichiometry as the knob to control dielectric properties of gapped metals, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2023.
- Fermi level instability as a way to tailor properties of La3Te4, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023.
Lovelesh Vashist
Research assistant - September 2022 - December 2023
Lovelesh completed his Bachelor and Master studies in physics at Punjabi University and IIT Ropar.
In the group, Lovelesh worked on defect theory in functional oxides, demonstrated the unusual nature
of noble-gas defects, and analyzed how such defects can affect material properties and defect
stability. Lovelesh also contributed to post-processing correction schemes for defect calculations and
later joined a Ph.D. program at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Lovelesh Vashist
Research assistant - September 2022 - December 2023Lovelesh completed his Bachelor and Master studies in physics at Punjabi University and IIT Ropar. In the group, Lovelesh worked on defect theory in functional oxides, demonstrated the unusual nature of noble-gas defects, and analyzed how such defects can affect material properties and defect stability. Lovelesh also contributed to post-processing correction schemes for defect calculations and later joined a Ph.D. program at the Singapore University of Technology and Design.
- Unveiling defect physics in gapped metals, Journal of Materials Informatics, 2024.
- Physics of band-filling correction in defect calculations of solid-state materials, RSC Advances, 2024.
- Noble gas functional defect with unusual relaxation pattern in solids, Physica Status Solidi RRL, 2023.
Dr. Asha Yadav
Postdoctoral researcher - August 2022 - November 2023
Asha received her Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai in 2019 and later worked at IIT Bombay before
joining ENSEMBLE3. Her work focused on low-dimensional systems, including materials realization,
doping, and optoelectronic properties. Her group results were published in Matter and Cellulose, and
she later joined the University of Udine as a postdoctoral researcher.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Dr. Asha Yadav
Postdoctoral researcher - August 2022 - November 2023Asha received her Ph.D. from the University of Mumbai in 2019 and later worked at IIT Bombay before joining ENSEMBLE3. Her work focused on low-dimensional systems, including materials realization, doping, and optoelectronic properties. Her group results were published in Matter and Cellulose, and she later joined the University of Udine as a postdoctoral researcher.
Dr. Himanshu Joshi
Postdoctoral researcher - January 2023 - December 2023
Himanshu received his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Mizoram University in 2018 and worked as
a research associate before joining ENSEMBLE3. In the group he worked on spin and structural symmetry
breaking in polymorphous materials, including YNiO3 and halide-perovskite calculations. He later joined
SRM University Sikkim as an assistant professor.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Dr. Himanshu Joshi
Postdoctoral researcher - January 2023 - December 2023Himanshu received his Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from Mizoram University in 2018 and worked as a research associate before joining ENSEMBLE3. In the group he worked on spin and structural symmetry breaking in polymorphous materials, including YNiO3 and halide-perovskite calculations. He later joined SRM University Sikkim as an assistant professor.
- Temperature-induced suppression of structural disproportionation in paramagnetic quantum materials, Journal of Applied Physics, 2024.
Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Khan
Postdoctoral researcher - October 2022 - November 2023
Rizwan brought experience in first-principles simulation and worked in the group on intrinsic
transparent conductive oxides, the electronic-structure theory of gapped metals, and defect theory.
He later moved to another postdoctoral position.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Dr. Muhammad Rizwan Khan
Postdoctoral researcher - October 2022 - November 2023Rizwan brought experience in first-principles simulation and worked in the group on intrinsic transparent conductive oxides, the electronic-structure theory of gapped metals, and defect theory. He later moved to another postdoctoral position.
- Tuning the Casimir-Lifshitz force with gapped metals, Physical Review B, 2023.
- Noble gas functional defect with unusual relaxation pattern in solids, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023.
- Optical properties and electronic structures of intrinsic gapped metals: inverse materials design principles for transparent conductors, Applied Physics Letters, 2023.
- Spontaneous off-stoichiometry as the knob to control dielectric properties of gapped metals, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2023.
- Fermi level instability as a way to tailor properties of La3Te4, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023.
Hasan Ali Poor
Research assistant - December 2022 - May 2023Hasan completed a master's degree in energy engineering at Shahid Beheshti University in Iran and joined the Inverse Materials Design group at ENSEMBLE3 in December 2022. During his stay, he worked on the design of materials for metal-ion batteries and later continued in another ENSEMBLE3 research group.
Mateusz Wlazlo
Postdoctoral researcher - July 2022 - December 2022
Mateusz received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Warsaw in 2018 and previously conducted
industrial research on thin-film photovoltaic technology. In the group, he worked on computational
descriptions of metal-insulator transitions in quantum materials, including pressure effects in YNiO3,
and contributed to the off-stoichiometric gapped-metals research line. He later continued research at
the University of Warsaw and CeNT.
Funding: FNP International Research Agendas, MAB/2020/14.
Project period: 2020 - 2023.
Open papers and outputs
Mateusz Wlazlo
Postdoctoral researcher - July 2022 - December 2022Mateusz received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Warsaw in 2018 and previously conducted industrial research on thin-film photovoltaic technology. In the group, he worked on computational descriptions of metal-insulator transitions in quantum materials, including pressure effects in YNiO3, and contributed to the off-stoichiometric gapped-metals research line. He later continued research at the University of Warsaw and CeNT.
- Temperature-induced suppression of structural disproportionation in paramagnetic quantum materials, Journal of Applied Physics, 2024.
- Fermi level instability as a way to tailor properties of La3Te4, Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, 2023.
- Effect of pressure on the electronic structure of antiferromagnetic and paramagnetic YNiO3: role of disproportionation, Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2023.