Bio
Asmaa Qdemat is a Senior Staff Scientist in the Neutron Scattering Division at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She received her Ph.D. in experimental solid-state physics in 2020 from RWTH Aachen University and Forschungszentrum Jülich (JCNS-2) in Germany, following an M.Sc. in Solid State Physics from the Jülich Center for Neutron Scattering (JCNS-2) and Al-Quds University in Palestine. Before joining ORNL in 2025, she was a Research Scientist at the Jülich Center for Neutron Scattering (2021–2024), where she was responsible for the small-angle X-ray diffractometer. She also worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Cologne (2019–2020). Additionally, in the period between 2022 – 2023 she was a Visiting Scientist at the Institute Laue-Langevin in Grenoble, France. Her research focuses on polarized small-angle scattering techniques for studying magnetic nanoparticle for biomedical applications, as well as grazing incidence small-angle polarized neutron scattering (GISANS) and polarized neutron reflectivity (PNR) for a comprehensive 3D analysis of the magnetic and structural properties of systems such as magnetic nanosphere superlattices and thin-film-coated nanosphere assemblies, contributing to the field of 3D nanomagnetism. Her broader research interests include magnetic interactions and magnetization dynamics in magnetic nanoparticles and nanostructure.
Professional Experience
Dr. Asmaa Qdemat is currently working as a Neutron Scattering Scientist at the Magnetism Reflectometer at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), where she has been based since January 2025. Her work focuses on polarized neutron reflectometry to investigate magnetic thin films and nanostructured systems. Prior to joining ORNL, she was a Scientific Staff Member at Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) in Germany, where she co-managed user operations on the GALAXI high-resolution X-ray diffractometer. Between 2021 and 2024, she led research on nanostructured magnetic materials, supported user experiments involving GISAXS, XRR, and SAXS, and supervised undergraduate and graduate students. In 2023, she was a Visiting Scientist at the Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL) in France, where she performed neutron reflectometry experiments on the D17 beamline. From 2019 to 2020, Dr. Qdemat was a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Cologne, where she investigated magnetic nanoparticles using polarized small-angle neutron scattering (POLSANS) and synchrotron-based X-ray scattering. Her teaching experience includes serving as a tutor in neutron scattering courses at FZJ (2016–2022) and as a teaching assistant at Al-Quds University in Palestine in 2012.
Awards
Awarded Best Poster Prize at the Bridging Length Scales in Magnetism – Diffuse Scattering from the Atomic to the Mesoscale seminar, 2024.
Education
Dr. Asmaa Qdemat received her Ph.D. in Physics in 2020 from RWTH Aachen University in collaboration with Forschungszentrum Jülich (JCNS-2), Germany, where her research focused on the structural and magnetic characterization of highly ordered magnetic nanoparticle assemblies using neutron scattering techniques. She earned her M.Sc. in Physics in 2016 through a joint program between Al-Quds University in Jerusalem, Palestine, and Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany, as part of the Palestinian-German Science Bridge (PGSB). Her undergraduate studies were completed at Al-Quds University, where she received her B.A. in Physics in 2013. She completed her high school education in Hebron, Palestine, graduating in 2009.
Professional Service
Dr. Asmaa Qdemat is an active member of several professional organizations, including the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World, the LINXS Junior Fellow Young Researcher Initiative, and the German Physical Society. She has played key roles in organizing scientific workshops and symposia, such as the NanoDose Workshop (2019) in Jülich, Germany; the establishment of the Nanoscience Research Cluster (2021) linking Forschungszentrum Jülich with Palestinian universities; the JCNS International Workshop (2024) in Tutzing, Germany; and the Young Researchers Symposium on Hard Condensed Matter (2024) in Lund, Sweden. Dr. Qdemat has been invited to speak at several prestigious events, including the JCNS International Workshop (2024) in Tutzing, Germany, the SESAME-Germany Info Day in Hamburg, the 18th SESAME User Meeting in Jordan, the Fourth Workshop on Science of the Program (MML) at Friedrich-Schiller University in Jena, Germany, and the LINXS Young Researcher’s Symposium on Hard Condensed Matter X-ray and Neutron Techniques in Lund, Sweden. She also serves as a guest editor for scientific journals, including a special issue of Processes (ISSN 2227-9717) in the “Materials Processes” section, and regularly reviews manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals.
Professional Affiliations
- Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) — Member
- LINXS Junior Fellow – Young Researcher Initiative — Member
- German Physical Society (DPG) — Member
Specialized Equipment
- Magnetism Reflectometer at the Spallation Neutron Source (SNS), ORNL
- GALAXI High-Resolution X-ray Diffractometer, Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ)
- D17 Neutron Reflectometer, Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL)
- Polarized Small-Angle Neutron Scattering (POLSANS), Grazing Incidence Small-Angle X-ray and Neutron Scattering (GISAXS & GISANS), X-ray and Polarized Neutron Reflectometry (XRR & PNR), and Wide-Angle X-ray Scattering (WAXS) setups
- SQUID Magnetometer
- Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)
Other Publications
- Wang, L. M., Qdemat, A., Petracic, O., Kentzinger, E., Rücker, U., Zheng, F., Lu, P. H., Wei, X. K., Dunin-Borkowski, R. E., Brückel, T.
Self-assembled monolayer of silica nanoparticles with improved order by drop casting, 2019, DOI: 10.1039/C9CP00302A - Qdemat, A., Kentzinger, E., Buitenhuis, J., Rücker, U., Ganeva, M., Brückel, T.
Self assembled monolayer of silica nanoparticles with improved order by drop casting, 2020, DOI: 10.1039/D0RA00936A - Hanbali, G., Jodeh, S., Hamed, H., Bol, R., Khalaf, B., Qdemat, A., Samhan, E.
Enhanced Ibuprofen Adsorption and Desorption on Synthesized Functionalized Magnetic, 2020, DOI: 10.3390/ma13153329 - Hanbali, G., Jodeh, S., Hamed, H., Bol, R., Khalaf, B., Qdemat, A., Dagdag, O.
Magnetic Multiwall Carbon Nanotube Decorated with Novel Functionalities: Synthesis - and Application as Adsorbents for Lead Removal from Aqueous Medium, 2020, DOI: 10.3390/pr8080986
- Qdemat, A.
Nanoparticle assemblies: Order by self-organization and collective magnetism, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/2128/26781 - Nandakumaran, N., Barnsley, L., Feoktystov, A., Ivanov, S. A., Huber, D. L., Leffler, V., Ehlert, S., Kentzinger, E., Qdemat, A., Schöffmann, T. B., Rücker, U., Wharmby, M. T., Cervellino, A., Borkowski, R. E., Brückel, T., Feygenson, M.
Unravelling Magnetic Nanochain Formation in Dispersion for In Vivo Applications, 2021, DOI: 10.1002/adma.202008683 - Dresen, D., Qdemat, A., Ulusoy, S., Zákutná, D., Wetterskog, E., Kentzinger, E., Alvarez, G. S., Disch, S.
Neither Sphere nor Cube—Analyzing the Particle Shape Using Small-Angle Scattering and the Superball Model, 2021, DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.1c06082 - Honecker, D., Bersweiler, M., Erokhin, S., Berkov, D., Chesnel, K., Venero, A. V., Qdemat, A., Disch, S., Jochum, J., Michels, A., Bender, P.
Using small-angle scattering to guide functional magnetic nanoparticle design, 2022, DOI: 10.1039/D1NA00482D - Zákutnár, D., Rouzbeh, N., Nižňanský, D., Duchoň, J., Qdemat, A., Kentzinger, E., Honecker, D., Disch, S., Jochum, J.
Magnetic Coupling in Cobalt-Doped Iron Oxide Core–Shell Nanoparticles: Exchange Pinning through Epitaxial Alignment, 2023, DOI: 10.1021/acs.chemmater.2c02813 - Feygenson, M., Huang, Z., Xiao, Y., Teng, X., Lohstroh, W., Nandakumaran, N., Neuefeind, J. C., Everett, M., Podlesnyak, A. A., Alvarez, G. A., Ulusoy, S., Valvo, M., Su, Y., Ehlert, S., Qdemat, A., Ganeva, M., Zhang, L., Aronson, M. C., Jochum, J.
Probing spin waves in Co3O4 nanoparticles for magnonics applications, 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D3NR04424F - Nasser, A., Qdemat, A., Unterweger, H., Tietze, R., Sun, X., Landers, J., Kopp, J., Wu, B., Appavou, M.-S., Murmiliuk, A., Gilbert, E. P., Petracic, O., Feoktystov, A.
Impact of coating type on structure and magnetic properties of biocompatible iron oxide nanoparticles: insights into cluster organization and oxidation stability, 2024. DOI: 10.1039/D4CP01735H