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Biosketch
Dr. Nirmal Roy is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad. Before joining IIT Palakkad, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Quantum Layered Materials Group (QLMG) of Prof. Moshe Ben Shalom at Tel Aviv University, Israel, where his research focused on nanoscale control of interlayer sliding ferroelectrics in van der Waals materials, stacking engineering of elastically coupled graphitic polytypes, and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs)
He earned his Ph.D. in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics from IIT Kanpur in 2022 under the supervision of Prof. Satyajit Banerjee, after completing his M.Sc. in Physics at IIT Delhi and his B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Burdwan. His doctoral research focused on nanomagnetism, low-temperature transport, and correlated electronic phenomena in magnetic nanoparticles and transition-metal oxide thin films.
Education:
- Ph.D. in Experimental Condensed Matter Physics — Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur (2016-2022)
Supervisor: Prof. Satyajit Banerjee
- M.Sc. in Physics — Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (2014-2016)
- B.Sc. (Hons) in Physics — University of Burdwan (2011-2014)
Professional Experience:
- Assistant Professor — Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Palakkad (Sept 2026–Present)
- Postdoctoral Research Fellow — School of Physics and Astronomy in the Faculty of Exact Sciences at Tel Aviv University, Israel (2022–2026)
Supervisor: Prof. Moshe Ben Shalom
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Research
Research Interests:
- 2D vdW Materials & Slidetronics: Stacking engineering, interlayer sliding, non-volatile ferroelectric switching, mechanically and electrically driven structural transformations, and novel slidetronic device architectures for next-generation electronics.
- Correlated Materials & Low-Temperature Transport: Electronic and magnetic properties of correlated systems, metal-insulator transitions, domain wall dynamics, and low-temperature transport phenomena.
- Nanomagnetism: Low-temperature magnetic phases, exchange interactions, and functional magnetic nanoparticles and nanostructures.
Publication:
- Nirmal Roy et al., “Switching graphitic polytypes in elastically coupled cavities.” Nat. Nanotechnol. 21, 530–537 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-025-02121-w
- Nirmal Roy, Shaked Amitay, Simon Salleh Atri, Harel Kabla, Oren Ben Moshe & Moshe Ben Shalom, “Detecting the Six Polytypes of Five-Layer Graphite.” Adv. Mater. 37, no. 47 (2025): e09947. https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202509947.
- Youngki Yeo, Yoav Sharaby, Nirmal Roy, Noam Raab, Watanabe Kenji, Takashi Taniguchi, Moshe Ben Shalom, Polytype switching by super-lubricant van der Waals cavity arrays. Nature 638, 389-393 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-08380-2
- Simon Salleh Atri, Wei Cao, Bar Alon, Nirmal Roy, Maayan Vizner Stern, Vladimir Fal’ko, Moshe Goldstein, Leeor Kronik, Michael Urbakh, Oded Hod & Moshe Ben Shalom, 2024. Spontaneous Electric Polarization in Graphene Polytypes. Advanced Physics Research, 3(5), p.2300095. https://doi.org/10.1002/apxr.202300095.
- Md Arif Ali, Sourav M. Karan, Nirmal Roy, S. S. Banerjee; Impact of Co2C nanoparticles on enhancing the critical current density of Bi-2223 superconductors, AIP Advances 14, 035110 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0191262 .
- Nirmal Roy et al., Probing the strongly correlated magnetic state of Co2C nanoparticles at low temperatures using mSR, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 2024, 36., 085603. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-648X/ad08ec.
- Nirmal Roy et al., Imaging of current crowding effect across the metal to insulator transition in NdNiO3 thin film with thickness gradient, Phys. Rev. B, 2022, 105, 085143. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.105.085143.
- Nirmal Roy et al., Exploring a low temperature glassy state, exchange bias effect, and high magnetic anisotropy in Co2C nanoparticles, J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 2021, 33., 375804. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-648X/ac0f9f.
- Nirmal Roy et al., Localized spin waves at low temperatures in a cobalt carbide nanocomposite, Journal of Applied Physics, 2020, 127.,124301. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5140711.
- Dibya J. Sivananda, Nirmal Roy, P. C. Mahato, and S. S. Banerjee, Exploring the non-equilibrium fluctuation relation for quantum mechanical tunnelling of electrons across a modulating barrier, Phys. Rev. Research, 2020, 2.,043237. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.2.043237.
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Additional Information
