Meet the Team
Group Leader
Dr. Hebatalla Elnaggar joined HZB in October 2025 as a group leader of NMXM group. The group focuses on magnetic strongly correlated materials. The group investigates the underlying fundamental physics of spin-related phenomena and their ultrafast dynamics. Our toolkit is based on advanced X-ray spectroscopies performed at synchrotrons and x-ray free-electron lasers. To interpret our data, we perform theoretical calculations based on multiplet and DFT methods to understand the underlying mechanisms dictating the properties of these systems.
You can contact Heba on: hebatalla.elnaggar@helmholtz-berlin.de
PhD Students
Nora Lahmiti is a PhD student at Sorbonne University, Paris, France. She started her PhD in November 2024. Her project focuses on exploring magnetic excitations called multi-magnons in thin films of magnetic perovskites. She grows functional thin-films using pulsed laser deposition with the aim to control and manipulate these excitations by tuning material properties through chemical substitution, substrate-induced strain and characterizes them using advanced X-ray spectroscopy.
You can contact Nora at:
nora.lahmiti@sorbonne-universite.fr
Ilayda Simsek is a PhD student at Sorbonne University since October 2025. The aim of her project is to explore the ultrafast dynamics of spin excitations in magnetic materials, which manifest as collective phenomena referred to as magnons. The project seeks to thoroughly identify and analyze the factors affecting their propagation in antiferromagnetically coupled perovskite materials, including the chemical environment.
You can contact Ilayda at: ilayda.simsek@sorbonne-universite.fr