Prof. Dr Angelo Di Bernardo (Curriculum Vitae) 

For a more detailed version of the CV, please click here

  • Researcher identifiers:
  1. Orcid - 0000-0002-2912-2023
  2. Scopus ID - 55262979800
  3. Google Scholar - https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z8-1ck4AAAAJ&hl=en

Professional Career

  • Associate Professor (W2 Universitätsprofessor), University of Konstanz [August 2020 - present]
  • Sofja Kovalevskja Research Group Leader, University of Konstanz [October 2019 - present]
  • Junior Research Fellow of St John's College, University of Cambridge [October 2016 - October 2019]

Awards & Prizes

  • Nicholas Kurti Science Prize for Europe 2022 (Oxford Instrument sponsorship).

Prize awarded to a European researcher working in the research field of low-temperature Physics.

  • Sofja Kolevskaja Award [October 2019 - October 2024]

One of 6 awards (1.65 M€) in Germany for international applicants from all fields in 2019.

  • Junior Research Fellowship, St John's College [October 2016 - October 2019]

One of 5 fellowships (~£100k) in 2016 out of more than 700 applications from all fields.

  • Brian Pippard Prize, Institute of Physics [January 2018]

Most prestigious prize awarded to a UK scientist working in the field of superconductivity.

  • ESAS Prize for Young Researchers, European Society for Applied Superconductivity [September 2017]

Awarded biannually to a young researcher in the field of superconductivity.

  • International IEEE Graduate Study Fellowship Award, IEEE Council on Superconductivity [July 2015]

One of the 5 international awardees ($5k) selected by the IEEE Council on Superconductivity.

  • George and Lillian Schiff Foundation Studentship, University of Cambridge [September 2012 - September 2016]

Only Ph.D. studentship awarded in 2012 for students in Natural Sciences and Engineering at the University of Cambridge.

  • Fulbright Self-Placed Scholarship, The U.S.-Italy Fulbright Commission [August 2011 - July 2012]

One of 3 national recipients ($38k) out of ~ 1000 applicants for all disciplines

  • Guglielmo D'Ambrosio Award, University of Naples Federico II [December 2009]

For the best student of the Engineering Department at the University of Naples Federico II out of more than 3,000 students enrolled.

Education 

  • NanoDTC Ph.D. (1 year Master + 3 years of Ph.D.), University of Cambridge [September 2012 – October 2016]
  • Master's Degree in Nanoscience, Arizona State University ​​​​​[September 2012 – October 2016]
  • Master's Degree in Biomedical Engineering, University of Naples Federico II ​ ​​[December 2008 – February 2011]
  • Bachelor's Degree in Biomedical Engineering, University of Naples Federico II ​ ​​[December 2005 – December 2008]

Publications and Talks

  • Has published more than 30 articles to date (May 2023), most of which in high-IF journals including Nature, Nature Communications, Nature Materials, Physical Review X, Physical Review Letters etc.

For an up-to-date list of publications see Google Scholar profile at: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=z8-1ck4AAAAJ&hl=en or this webpageA selection of the 10 most relevant papers is reported below (the symbol '*' denotes corresponding author):

  1. R. Hartmann, M. Hogen, D. Lignon, A. K. C. Tan, M. Amado, S. El-Khatib, M. Egilmez, B. Das, C. Leighton, M. Atature, E. Scheer, A. Di Bernardo*. Intrinsic giant magnetoresistance due to exchange-bias-type effects at the surface of single-crystalline NiS2 nanoflakes. Nanoscale (2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1039/D3NR00467H
  2. A. Di Bernardo*, Broken mirror symmetry boosts current conversion in a superconductor, Nature 613, 446 (2023). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00027-y
  3. R. Fittipaldi, R. Hartmann, M. T. Mercaldo, S. Komori, A. Bjorlig, W. Kyung, Y. Yasui, T. Miyoshi, L. A. B. Olde Olthof, C. M. Palomares Garcia, V. Granata, I. Keren, W. Higemoto, A. Suter, T. Prokscha, A. Romano, C. Noce, C. Kim, Y. Maeno, E. Scheer, B. Kalisky, J. W. A. Robinson, M. Cuoco, Z. Salman, A. Vecchione, A. Di Bernardo*. Unveiling unconventional magnetism at the surface of Sr2RuO4, Nature Communications 12, 5892 (2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26020-5
  4. H. Alpern, M. Amundsen, R. Hartmann, N. Sukenik, A. Spuri, S. Yochelis, T. Prokscha, V. Gutkin, Y. Anahory, E. Scheer, J. Linder, Z. Salman, O. Millo, Y. Paltiel, A. Di Bernardo*. Unconventional Meissner screening induced by chiral molecules in a conventional superconductor, Physical Review Materials 5, 114081 (2021). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.5.1148

  5. A. Di Bernardo*, S. Komori, G. Livanas, G. Divitini, P. Gentile, M. Cuoco, J.W.A. Robinson. Nodal superconducting exchange coupling, Nature Materials 18, 1194 (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-019-0476-3

  6. E. M. Choi, A. Di Bernardo, B. Zhu, P. Lu, K.H.L. Zhang, H. Alpern, T. Shapira, J. Feighan, X. Sun, J.W.A. Robinson, Y. Paltiel, O. Millo, H. Wang, Q. Jia, J.L. MacManus-Driscoll. 3D strain-induced superconductivity in La2CuO4+δ using a simple vertically aligned nanocomposite approach, Science Advances 5, eaav5532 (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aav5532

  7. S. Komori, A. Di Bernardo, A.I. Buzdin, M.G. Blamire, J.W.A. Robinson. Magnetic exchange fields and domain wall superconductivity at an all-oxide superconductor/ferromagnetic insulator interface, Physical Review Letters 121, 077003 (2018). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.077003

  8. A. Di Bernardo, Y. Kalcheim, M. Barbone, M. Amado, D. De Fazio, U. Sassi, A. Ott, J. Linder, A.C. Ferrari, O. Millo, J.W.A. Robinson. P-wave triggered superconductivity in single-layer graphene on an electron-doped oxide superconductor, Nature Communications 8, 14024 (2017). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1402

  9. A. Di Bernardo, Z. Salman, X.L. Wang, M. Amado, M. Egilmez, M.G. Flokstra, A. Suter, S.L. Lee, J.H. Zhao, T. Prokscha, E. Morenzoni, M.G. Blamire, J. Linder, J.W.A. Robinson. Intrinsic paramagnetic Meissner effect due to s-wave odd frequency superconductivity, Physical Review X 5, 041021 (2015). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.5.041021

  10. A. Di Bernardo, S. Diesch, Y. Gu, J. Linder, E. Scheer, M.G. Blamire, J.W.A. Robinson. Signature of magnetic-dependent gapless odd frequency states at superconductor/ferromagnet interfaces, Nature Communications 6, 8053 (2015). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9053

  • Has given about 50 talks to date (May 2023) at international seminars, workshops, or conferences, more than 40 of which on invitation (5 on average in the last 3 years). Full list of talks available hereA selection of 10 recent invited talks/invited lectures is reported below:
  1. 776. WE-Heraeus Seminar, Bad Honnef, Germany (4th-6th Jan. 2023).
  2. DPG Meeting (invited lecture), Regensburg, Germany (4th-9th Sept. 2022).
  3. 769. WE-Heraeus Seminar, Bad Honnef, Germany (29th May-2nd Jun. 2022).
  4. OSS Workshop 2021, Kyoto, Japan (13th-17th Dec. 2021).
  5. QuSpin Workshop 2021, NTNU, Norway (1st-2nd Dec. 2021).
  6. 7th ICSM international conference, Bodrum, Turkey (22nd-28th Oct. 2021).
  7. Nanocohybrid workshop, Paris, France (12th-14th Oct. 2021).
  8. 15th International workshop on Magnetism and Superconductivity, Coma-Ruga, Spain (1st-5th Jul. 2019).
  9. Two lectures on superconducting devices, OSS Workshop 2017, Kyoto, Japan (25th-29th Nov. 2017).
  10. Three lectures on superconductivity and magnetism, ESAS School, Pozzuoli, Italy (12th-16th Dec. 2016).

Research grants (as PI)

2021

  • ­­EU FET-Open grant "Gate Tuneable Superconducting Quantum Electronics (SuperGate)" (3 years).
  • Zukunftskolleg Research Fellowship for project "Superconducting spintronics" (3 years). 

2020

  • ­­DFG grant within SPP2244 priority programme on "2D Materials - Physics of van der Waals heterostructures" (3 years), Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
  • Young Scholar Fund for project "Molecule-superconductor hybrid devices for quantum electrons" (2 years), University of Konstanz 

2019

  • Sofja Kovalevskaja research grant (5 years), Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. 

Teaching 

Has taught to date the following lecture courses: 

  • Superconductivity: fundamentals and applications (regular course for Master's degree students), University of Konstanz, Winter Semesters 2020-2021, 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.
  • Nanocharacterization and nanofabrication techniques (regular course for Master's degree students), University of Konstanz, Summer Semester 2020-2021.
  • Advances in Nanomaterials (seminar course), University of Konstanz, Summer Semester 2021-2022.
  • Nanomagnetism (course for M. Phil. and NanoDTC Ph.D. students), University of Cambridge in academic years 2017-2018 and 2018-2019.
  • Mathematical Methods for Materials Science (course for third-year undergraduates), University of Cambridge in academic year 2018-2019.
  • Materials Aspects of Microdevices (course for second-year undergraduates), University of Cambridge in academic year 2018-2019.

Reviewing and Editorial Activities

- Associate Editor for the Journal of Low Temperature Physics

- Reviewer for grant proposals including DFG grants, Alexander von Humboldt and EU (ERC-Advanced) grants

- Reviewer for international scientific journals including: Nature, Nat. Commun., npj Quantum Mater., Sci. Rep., Phys. Rev. X, Phys. Rev. Lett., Phys. Rev. Res., Nano Lett., ACS Nano, ACS Appl. Electron. Mater., EPL, APL, APL Mater., Phys. Status Solidi B, Beilstein J. Nanotechnol., Thin Solid Films.

General Contributions and Responsibilities

Organisation of scientific meetings

  • Co-organiser of the mini-colloquium session “Magnet/superconductor hybrids for quantum information science and Technology” at the Condensed Matter Division (CMD) conference of the European Physics Conference in Milan (CMD30-FisMat2023), 4th-8th September 2023.
  • Co-organiser of the international workshop on “Unconventional Superconducting phenomena”, Schloss Ringberg (Germany), 30th May - 2nd June 2023.
  • Co-organiser of focused session on unconventional transport in low-dimensional heterostructures for DPG meeting 2023, Dresden, 26th-31st March 2023.
  • Co-organiser of colloquium "Symmetry and non-linearity in low-dimensional systems" (online), 31st August - 1st September 2020
  • Co-organiser of international symposium - “Superconducting Spintronics and Majorana Physics”, University of Cambridge, 15th-16th March 2018. 

 

Other appointments and responsibilities

  • Work package leader, FET-Open grant SuperGate [2021-to date]
  • External Ph.D. examiner (Uppsala University, Scuola Normale Superiore) [2020 - to date]
  • Faculty member, Department of Physics, University of Konstanz [2019-to date] 
  • Graduate student advisor, University of Konstanz [2019-to date]
  • Deputy Dean of Discipline in St John's College, Cambridge [October 2017 - October 2019]

 

Outreach activities

  • Participated in several scientific outreach and scientific events for the general public including the Cambridge Science Festival, where he gave a talk every year from 2015 until 2019.

 

Membership of scientific societies

  • Member of the Italian association of Engineers, Italy [2021-to date]
  • Member of the Deutsche Physikalische Geselleschaft (DPG), Germany [2019-to date]

Main collaborations

  • Elke Scheer and Wolfgang Belzig, University of Konstanz, Germany (2D superconducting spintronics, scanning tunneling microscopy, theory of mesoscopic superconductivity)
  • Zaher Salman and Thomas Prokscha, PSI, Switzerland (low-energy muon spin rotation spectroscopy).
  • Carmine Attanasio and Carla Cirillo, Università degli Studi di Salerno, Italy (non-centro symmetric superconductors, thin-film heterostructures, field-effect devices).
  • Mario Cuoco and Antonio Vecchione, CNR-Spin, Italy (theory of strongly correlated oxides, oxide crystals).
  • Francesco Giazotto, CNR-Nano, Italy (field effect in superconducting devices).
  • Jacob Linder, NTNU, Norway (theory of superconductor/ferromagnet systems).
  • Sebastian Bergeret, Materials Physics Centre, Donostia, Spain (2D superconducting spintronics theory).
  • Jason RobinsonMete Atatüre, Andrea Ferrari, University of Cambridge, UK (2D superconducting spintronics, NV magnetometry).
  • Oded Millo, Yossi Paltiel, Hadar Steinberg, Racah Institute of Physics, Israel (scanning tunneling microscopy, chiral molecules/superconductors hybrids, tunneling spectroscopy on 2D materials).
  • Beena Kalisky, Bar-Ilan University, Israel (scanning SQUID microscopy).
  • Yoshiteru Maeno, Kyoto University, Japan (superconductivity in Sr2RuO4).
  • Changyoung Kim, Seoul National University, South Korea (low-energy electron diffraction, oxide systems).