Spin Microscopy Lab


Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) defects in diamond crystals are playing an essential role in the development of new nanoscale sensing devices based on the quantum properties of NV defects. We are occupied with the following endeavours:

  • How can the quantum properties of the NV defect spin be controlled for improved quantum sensing tasks?
  • What new nanoscale magnetic field sensing modalities can NV defects enable?
  • How can we apply the NV nanomagnetometry toolbox, which offers high sensitivity and high spatial resolution, for the study of magnetic samples such as 2D magnetic materials having nanoscale volumes?



We are happy to announce that our research lab is going to play a key role in the National Quantum Mission (NQM) from 2025-2030. One of the major objectives of the NQM is to advance the field of diamond magnetometry. In this regard, I am looking for NQM-funded PhD students and/or project staff who are committed to contribute to this endeavour on a long-term basis.
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News

July 2026
  • Congratulations to the PhD student Abhishek Joshi for receiving the Best Oral Presentation award at The 31st Annual NMRS Conference 2026,held at IISER Bhopal from 8th to 11th July 2026.
December 2025
  • Dr. Phani Kumar participated as a panellist in the Panel Discussion on Nobel Prizes 2025 held on December 10, 2025 at the Regional Science Centre, Bhopal in collaboration with the CS2-IISER Bhopal.
November 2024
  • Dr. Phani Kumar gave an invited talk at the International Conference on “Modern Trends in Molecular Magnetism and Spins in Molecular Systems” in IISc, Bangalore.
November 2023
December 2022
December 2021

Dr. Phani Kumar

Principal Investigator

Research Interests

Nitrogen-vacancy (NV) spins in diamond, Quantum sensing, Atomic force microscopy, Nano-spin-mechanical systems (NSMS), Nanomagnetism, Hybrid quantum sensors, Nanoscale scanning diamond probes, Magnetic resonance imaging, Biosensing, Quantum technology, Confocal microscopy, Laser interferometry


Academics

Postdoc [July 2013 - November 2017]

Institute for Quantum Optics, University of Ulm, Germany

Advisor: Prof. Fedor Jelezko

Research: Quantum Sensing, Diamond Magnetometry, Nano-spin-mechanical Systems (NSMS)

Section on Quantum Physics and Information Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Copenhagen

Advisor: Prof. Ulrik Andersen

Research: Nanomechanics

Division of Physics and Applied Physics, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Research: Spin Centers in Silicon Carbide


PhD [Department of Physics, University of Basel, Switzerland (April 2009 - June 2013)]
Thesis: Magnetic resonance force microscopy: Harnessing nuclear spin fluctuations.
Advisor: Prof. Martino Poggio
Research: Apart from making contributions to setting up of a low temperature high vacuum magnetic resonance force microscopy (MRFM) setup, I explored a novel approach using MRFM to harness the naturally occurring random fluctuations in nanoscale ensembles of nuclear spins.


MSc [Micro and Nanosystems, ETH Zurich, Switzerland (October, 2006 - January, 2009)]
Thesis: Efficient coupling to photonic crystal cavities.
Advisor: Prof. Atac Imamoglu
Courses Credited:
Quantum Mechanics for Nanosystems, Advanced Optoelectronics, Quantum Optics, Quantum Systems for Information Technology, Magnetism: from the Atom to the Solid State, Advanced Solid State Physics, Statistical Physics, Semiconductor Nanostructures, Quantum Optics and Semiconductor Quantum Dots
Course Projects:
MATLAB simulations for gain calculations of quantum dot laser


BTech [Indian Institute of Technology, Madras (September, 2001 - July, 2005)]
Courses Credited: (GPA - 8.56/10)
Physics - I, Physics Lab - I, Electrodynamics, Physics Lab - II, Quantum Mechanics for Engineers, Semiconductor Physics, Dynamical Systems, Laser Theory, Mathematical Physics, Superconductivity and its Applications



Achievements

  • Pratibha scholarship awarded by Andhra Pradesh state government for BTech studies in IIT Madras
  • Indian Institutes of Technology-Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE) 2001 Rank: 532 (out of 1,70,000+ students) for admission to IITs
  • Secured an All India Rank of 8 (99.81 percentile) in Joint Entrance Screening Test (JEST) Physics 2009 for admission to PhD programmes
  • Achieved a score of 890/1000 (90 percentile) in GRE Physics 2005, an examination taken by applicants for admission into graduate schools in USA

Research

SINGLE-SPIN MAGNETOMETRY


We develop nitrogen-vacancy (NV) spin-based diamond magnetometers capable of measuring the minute magnetic fields with high sensitivity and spatial resolution. Our aim is to utilize the diamond spins as scanning probes to spatially map the tiny magnetic fields on the nanoscale. This would allow us to obtain a greater understanding of the magnetic phenomena which are otherwise not discerned by global magnetization measurements due to spatial averaging.

Scanning Diamond Magnatometer

HYBRID NV-DIAMOND SENSORS


We also apply NV centers as nanoscale probes of stress, temperature and electric fields. Standard NV-diamond sensing devices when combined with the strategy of hybridization offer a huge potential for improving their sensitivity. Such hybrid quantum sensors may provide a novel approach for studying a broad range of physical processes on the nanoscale.

Publications

Quadrature-Symmetric PulsePol for Robust Quantum Control Beyond the Ideal Pulse Approximation

Mayur Jhamnani, Venkata SubbaRao Redrouthu, Jose P. Carvalho, Ethan Feldman, Anders B. Nielsen, Phani Kumar, Niels Chr. Nielsen, P. K. Madhu, Asif Equbal

Phys. Rev. Applied - Accepted 17 July, 2026

July 2026

Patent: Compact Optical Bench Apparatus For Magnetometry Using Nitrogen-Vacancy Defects In Diamond

Phani Peddibhotla and Pralekh Dubey
Application No. 202521057041, Date of Filing: 13/06/2025,
Patent No. 588659, Date of Grant: 07/05/2026
May 2026

Diamond Magnetometry: From Fundamentals to Applications

Abhishek Joshi et al.

Invited Book Chapter on Diamond Technology and Advances, Royal Society of Chemistry Books

May 2026

Magnetic field orientation dependence of continuous-wave optically detected magnetic resonance with nitrogen-vacancy ensembles

December 2025

Sensing Electric Currents in an a-IGZO TFT-Based Circuit Using a Quantum Diamond Microscope

Mayana Yousuf Ali Khan, Pralekh Dubey et al.

Adv. Mater. Technologies, 2025 pdf

November 2025

Towards robust quantum diamond magnetometry for industrial applications

Sourav Chatterjee, Shashank Kumar et al.

(JPS200_163 CLEO: Applications and Technology (CLEO:A&T) 2025) pdf

May 2025

Quantum sensing of magnetic fields with spins in diamond

Shashank Kumar, Pralekh Dubey et al.

(Invited article in Quantum Vibes quarterly newsletter highlighting the developments happening across various quantum technologies in India) pdf

May 2025

High-resolution spectroscopy of a single nitrogen-vacancy defect at zero magnetic field

Shashank Kumar, Pralekh Dubey et al.

Quantum Sci. Technol., 2023, 8, 025011 pdf

January 2023

Scalable fabrication of single silicon vacancy defect arrays in silicon carbide using focused ion beam

Junfeng Wang, Xiaoming Zhang, Yu Zhou, Ke Li, Ziyu Wang, P. Peddibhotla, Fucai Liu, Sven Bauerdick,Axel Rudzinski, Zheng Liu, and Weibo Gao

ACS Photonics, 2017, 4(5), 1054-1059

April 2017

Nanomechanical sensing using spins in diamond

M. S. J. Barson , P. Peddibhotla , P. Ovartchaiyapong, K. Ganesan, R. L. Taylor, M. Gebert, Z. Mielens,B. Koslowski, D. A. Simpson, L. P. McGuinness, J. McCallum, S. Prawer, S. Onoda, T. Ohshima, A. C.Bleszynski Jayich, F. Jelezko, N. B. Manson and M. W. Doherty

Nano Lett. (2017), 17 (3), 1496-1503

February 2017

Boundary between the thermal and statistical polarization regimes in a nuclear spin ensemble

B. E. Herzog, D. Cadeddu, F. Xue, P. Peddibhotla and M. Poggio

Appl. Phys. Lett.105, 043112 (2014)

August 2014

Harnessing nuclear spin polarization fluctuations in a semiconductor nanowire

P. Peddibhotla, Fei Xue, H. I. T. Hauge, S. Assali, Erik P. A. M. Bakkers and M. Poggio

Nature Physics 9, 631-635 (2013)

August 2013

Feedback cooling of cantilever motion using a quantum point contact transducer

M. Montinaro, A. Mehlin, H. S. Solanki, P. Peddibhotla, S. Mack, D. D. Awschalom and M. Poggio

Appl. Phys. Lett. 101, 133104 (2012)

September 2012

Measurement of statistical nuclear spin polarization in a nanoscale GaAs sample

Fei Xue, D. P. Weber, P. Peddibhotla, and M. Poggio

Phys. Rev. B 84, 205328 (2011)

November 2011

A geometry for optimizing nanoscale magnetic resonance force microscopy

Fei Xue, P. Peddibhotla, M. Montinaro, D. P. Weber, and M. Poggio

Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 163103 (2011)

April 2011

Teaching

Members

Post Doctoral Fellows



Name: Sheenam Saxena

Email: sheenam2026[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Name: Suman Mundlia

Email: suman2026[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026



PhD Students



Name: Pralekh Dubey

Email: dpralekh[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: August, 2021


Name: Abhishek Prajapati

Email: abhishekp23[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: August, 2023


Name: Abhishek Joshi

Email: abhishek23[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: May, 2025



BS-MS/IPhD Students



Name: Garima Kumari

Email: garima24[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: January, 2026



Name: Vedant Ravindra Kalkotwar

Email: vedant22[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Name: Shubham Goel

Email: shubhamg22[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Name: Shreesha Sharma

Email: shreesha22[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Name: Rishabh Nath

Email: rishabh.nath[AT]cbs.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Project Staff



Name: Roshan Kumar Dora

Email: roshan21@iiserb.ac.in

Joined: June, 2026


Name: Vignesh R

Email: vigneshraja[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: February, 2026


Name: Anchal Kumar Sharma

Email: anchalsharma[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: February, 2026


Name: Avina Reshel Dsouza

Email: avina2026[AT]iiserb.ac.in

Joined: May, 2026




Alumni


PhD Students
  1. Shashank Kumar (Graduated from IISERB in 2026, Currently at Quantum Biosciences Private Limited, Bangalore)
BS-MS Students
  1. Prabhat Kumar (Graduated from IISERB in 2026)
  2. Sameer Sharma (Graduated from IISERB in 2025, Currently Graduate Student at the Felix-Bloch-Institute for Solid-State Physics, Leipzig University, Germany)
  3. Sunny Kumar Gupta (Graduated from IISERB in 2025, Currently Research Assistant at Center for Quantum Technology, Nanyang Technological University)
  4. Chinmaya Singh (Graduated from IISERB in 2024, Currently Graduate Student at University of Crete)
  5. Gauri Ingole (Graduated from IISERB in 2025, Currently Junior Research Fellow at DRDO Young Scientist Laboratory-Quantum Technologies (DYSL-QT), Pune)
  6. Shreyash Biradar (Graduated from IISERB in 2025, Currently Graduate Student at the Institute for Photonic Sciences, Barcelona)
  7. S. John Sharon Sandeep (Graduated from IISERB in 2025, Currently employed at Tata Consultancy Services - Research and Innovation)
  8. Yash Patel (Graduated from IISERB in 2024, Currently Graduate Student at New York University)
  9. Devang V Krishnan (Graduated from IISERB in 2024)
  10. Jemish Naliyapara (Graduated from IISERB in 2023, Currently Quant Strategist at Turtle Wealth Management Pvt. Ltd., Surat)
  11. Dershik Ayyathan (Graduated from IISERB in 2023)
  12. Swayangprabha Shaw (Graduated from IISERB in 2022, Currently Graduate Student at the Department of Electrical and Computer Science Engineering, University of Arizona)
  13. Sudhan Bhadade (Graduated from IISERB in 2022, Currently Graduate Student at the Institute for Experimental Physics, University of Innsbruck)
  14. Sujeet Pani (Graduated from IISERB in 2021, Currently Graduate Student at the Center for Quantum Information and Control, University of New Mexico)
  15. Md Arshad (Graduated from IISERB in 2020)
  16. Subham Singh (Graduated from IISERB in 2020)
  17. Ritesh Kumar Singh (Graduated from IISERB in 2020)
  18. Alen Philip (Graduated from IISERB in 2019, Currently Optical Designer at ZEISS Group, Germany)
  19. Basim S. S. (Graduated from IISERB in 2019)
Project Staff
  1. Anshul Poonia (Worked as a Project Associate from July 2024 to February 2025, Currently Senior Hardware Engineer at QT Sense, Groningen, Netherlands)
  2. Roshin G Vallatt (Worked as a Project Associate from November 2024 to April 2026, Currently Graduate Student at the University of Manchester)
  3. Tulsi Songara (Worked as a Junior Research Fellow from July 2025 to November 2025, Currently Graduate Student at the IIT Mandi)
  4. Taniya Singh (Worked as a Junior Research Fellow from June 2025 to May 2026, Currently Graduate Student at the RMIT University, Melbourne)
  5. Bapan Debnath (Worked as a Research Associate from June 2025 to June 2026, Currently Post Doctoral Fellow in Paris)
  6. Pranit Terse (Worked as a Junior Research Fellow from December 2024 to June 2026, Currently Graduate Student at the University of Sussex)
  7. Sakshi Dwivedy (Worked as a Project Associate from July 2025 to April 2026, Currently Graduate Student at the University of Jyväskylä, Finland)

Contact



Dr. Phani Kumar P.

Associate Professor

Department of Physics

IISER Bhopal


Office:

Room No. 3, Academic Building - I

Bhauri, Bhopal - 462066

Phone: +91 755 269 1241

Email: phani@iiserb.ac.in

Location