Physics

Course Structure

First Semester:

1. Core Courses (4 Credit): a) Mathematical Methods of Physics (PH5101) , b) Classical Mechanics (PH5102) and c) Quantum Mechanics -I (PH5103).

2. Departmental Electives (3 Credit): a) Gravitation and Astrophysics (PH5121), b)Interaction of Radiation with Matters: Detection of Charged and Neutral Particles (PH5122), c) Physics of Semiconductor Devices (PH5123) and d) LASER, Fibre Optics and their Applications (PH5124).

3. Open Electives (3 Credit): a)Dynamical Systems-I (PH5161) and b)Basics and Applications of Quantum Mechanics (PH5162).

4. Lab Courses: a) 3 Credit: General Physics Laboratory (PH5171) and b) 2 Credit: Computer Programming and Computational Techniques (PH5172)

Second Semester:

1. Core Courses (4 Credit): a) Electromagnetic Theory (PH5201), b) Electronic Devices and Circuits (PH5202) and c) Quantum Mechanics - II (PH5203).

2.  Departmental Electives (3 Credit): a) Advanced Optics (PH5221), b) Computational Physics (PH5222) and c) Plasma Physics (PH5223).

3. Open Electives (3 Credit): a)Principle of Detectors and Data Acquisition Systems for Radiation Detection (PH5261) and b)Physics and Applications of Quantum Structures (PH5262). 

4. Lab Course (2 Credit): Basic Electronic Circuit Laboratory (PH5271)

5. Thesis/Project (4 Credit): Term Paper (PH5291)

6. Thesis/Project (2 Credit): Term Paper Viva (PH5292)

Third Semester:

1. Core Courses (4 Credit): a) Atomic and Molecular Physics (PH6301), b) Nuclear Physics (PH6302) and c) Solid Satate Physics (PH6303).

2. Lab Course (3 Credit): Advanced Laboratory (PH6371).

3. Thesis/Project Report (8 Credit): M.Sc. Thesis Part - I (PH6391).

4. Thesis/Project Viva (2 Credit): Seminar and Viva of M.Sc. Thesis Part - I (PH6392)  

Fourth Semester:

1. Core Course (4 Credit): Statistical Mechanics (PH6401).

2. Departmental Electives (3 Credit): a) Physics of Materials (PH6421) b) Nuclear Physics and Nuclear Astrophysics (PH6422), c) Field Theory and Particle Physics (PH6423) and d) Advanced Condensed Matter Physics (PH6424).

3. Laboratory Courses (3 Credit): a)Special Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics (PH6471) and b)Special Laboratory for Nuclear and Particle Physics (PH6472)  

4. Thesis/Project Report (8 Credit): M.Sc. Thesis Part - II (PH6491).

5. Thesis/Project Viva (4 Credit): Seminar and Viva of M.Sc. Thesis Part - II (PH6492)  

 I) In Experimental Condensed Matter Physics and Material Science, the focus is on synthesis and characterisation of low dimensional materials for various applications. Nanostructure materials like polymer nanocomposites, advanced functional materials, magnetic materials and glass are prepared employing various routes. Some materials find application in electromagnetic shielding and supercapacitors. Study of chemical kinetics by using ultrasonic technique is carried out.  Research on Photonics and photovoltaics in the nanoscale domain is ongoing. Nanostructured Silicon is explored for electronic, optoelectronic and sensing applications. Synthesis and characterization of carbon nanotube, graphene, rgo based nanomaterials and their application towards photodetection and gas sensors are being investigated. Oxide semiconductor nanomaterials are being explored for VOC sensing and photodetection applications. CNT based materials are explored for gas sensors and detectors. Conducting polymer based nanocomposites and carbon based hybrides are characterised for green energy generation and environmental remediation. Work on the plasma surface interaction and spectroscopic analysis of ternary carbide and nitride thin films deposited by the magnetron sputtering system is ongoing.  Atmospheric pressure plasma on skin disease treatment and biomedical applications are in progress. There are 16 research students who have working in this research area in different laboratories of the Department. There are 6 students who had been awarded degree and 2 students have submitted their thesis for the award of PhD degree. 

   II) The researches in the field of Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics are pursued mainly in the following areas:

1. Fractional Quantum Hall Effect (FQHE): FQHE occurs in the strongly interacting electron system in two dimensions. We have an excellent opportunity to study the interacting electron system's collective nature, such as collective excitations, pair correlation, etc. One can study the topological aspects of the system as it is associated with topology. Besides this, the system is also associated with the breading statistics, edge states, spin polarization, etc. So we can explore many aspects of correlated electrons in a single system. Our students are involved in this field of research.

2. Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC): Based on Bose statistics, almost all the Bose particles condensate in the single-particle ground state below a certain temperature (known as critical temperature); the effect is known as BEC. There is a great possibility of application of the interacting BEC in the field of the future quantum computer. An interesting fact is that we can control almost all the parameters associated with the system, such as the interaction strength between the particles, shape of the condensate, we can rotate the condensate, and introduce the spin-orbit interaction in the system, and many more. 

3. Recently, people have discovered the liquid phase of condensate, which is a fascinating and exciting research area. We are also working in this area recently. 

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Recent availability of precision data in the observational front of cosmology has given an impetus to the study of signatures of physical processes taking place in the early Universe using principles of elementary particle physics. We are engaged in the study of some aspects of the large scale structure formation in Universe using techniques of quantum field theory in out of equilibrium situation. Some calculations of one loop correction to cosmological correlation functions have been carried out using in-in formulation à la Schwinger.  Although the commonly used idea of inflationary phase has the potential ability to solve several problems of standard cosmology elegantly but it is hard to implement this idea in the context of standard model of particle physics. However, inflation is generally achievable in beyond standard models. Our interest is in constructing model of inflation based on effective field theory approach.

Confinement and asymptotic freedom are the most intriguing aspects of Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). It is believed that that low energy phase of this theory is described by hadrons and the glueballs which are the gauge invariant bound states of gauge fields.  Understanding the low energy dynamics of QCD is a challenging problem in particle physics. The study of classical exact solution and its stability may enlighten us on this issue along with the problem on quantization of this theory in general. One particular observation made long before that non-Abelian gauge theory can be formulated in terms of field strengths in axial gauge.  The unique inversion of gauge potentials to field strength requires implementation of Bianchi identities in the quantized theory.  We adopt this approach to construct an effective action in terms of field strengths in the momentum space and obtained solution of the equation from effective theory.  Some interesting features of the solution and their stability have been studied.

The theoretical understanding of the heat transport in solids is a long standing problem. Much effort has been given to the derivation of Fourier law using basic principles of statistical mechanics but a comprehensive understanding is still lacking. We have studied the problem using Langevin equation approach which is most favored approach to study heat conduction in ordered harmonic lattice as well as in disordered system of various dimensionalities. The Fourier’s law has been verified numerically to the first order in anharmonic coupling constant in three dimensional anharmonic crystals.

Nuclear physics group mainly pusue their theoretical and experimental investigations in the field of nuclear structure and nuclear astrophysics. The experimental works have been carried out at different accelerator centres in collaboration with different institutes like, SINP, VECC, UGC-DAE-CSR-KOLKATA CENTRE, TIFR, BARC, IUAC etc. (INGA Collaboration). At present, seven students are working in our research group for pursuing their PhD. Three students from our group have already completed their PhD.

In the domain of fiber and waveguide optics a good number of research students are working in  the research group under the supervision of Prof Mousumi Basu. Three of them have  already been awarded PhD degree. Many students in this group are working now in the area of design and and optimization of  dispersion managed  optical fibres and SOI or plasmonic waveguides with emphasis on nonlinear pulse propagation through them. The nonlinear pulse reshaping  as well as dispersion management in fibers play  much important role in today's lightwave communication system and in different photonic device applications or sensors. Currently four students are working in this area and some are working in the domain of optical materials in collaboration with other institutions.

In the domain of spectroscopic characterisation of Lasers and luminescent materials the research group under the supervision of Dr. Samar Jana is working. A good number of PhD students are working on development of rare earth optical materials for solid state device applications  as well as on photo luminescence , fluorescence etc. in rare earth doped glasses. Few students have also been awarded PhD degree in this area of research.