Recent News : Achievement

A former student of DPS has successfully tapped into his passion for art and storytelling into a career in science communication and illustration. We congratulate Mayank Sreshtha, whose illustrations have featured in the recent Physics World article

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Posted on: April 17th, 2025

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IISER Kolkata's team 'Bubblesense', comprising of Mr. Anand Dev Ranjan ( Roll No. 20RS068) , Mr. Om Khare (Roll No. 21MS084) and Ms. Ankita Choudhary (Roll No. 21IP033) from the Department of Physical Sciences, won the gold medal at 'Innovatopia' - the first Inter-INCI E-Summit held at IISER Kolkata on March 22. They showcased their idea on multiple pathogen detection on a single microfluidic chip using microbubble lithography - a technology developed in the Light Matter lab led by Prof. Ayan Banerjee. The team won a cash award of Rs 50,000, along with possible seed funding for their idea to be donated by Prof. S. Sivaram of IISER Pune - who is also part of the advisory board of RISE Foundation IISER, co-hosts of this year's E-Summit

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Posted on: March 26th, 2025

The DPS Ph.D student Sujit Rajak working in the bioNap Research Laboratory has received the Best Poster award in the recently concluded DAE-BRNS National Laser Symposium (NLS 33) held at Medi-Caps University, Indore, March 6-9, 2025. The title of the award-winning poster is - Experimental Observation of Spin-dependent Dispersion of Light in Plasmonic Crystals. Congratulations Sujit!

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Posted on: March 18th, 2025

Prof. Nirmalya Ghosh has been elected as a Fellow of OPTICA (Optical Society of America) 2025. Many many congratulations! According to a statement from OPTICA, “Nirmalya Ghosh is being recognized for exceptional scientific contributions to optical polarization and related phenomena and development of novel experimental polarimetry systems for diverse applications”. Please note that Optica, Advancing Optics and Photonics Worldwide, is the society dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving and dissemination of knowledge in the field. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. Optica's renowned publications, meetings, online resources and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.

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Posted on: March 18th, 2025

We are happy to share that Prof. Nirmalya Ghosh of Department of Physical Sciences and CESSI has received Scientific and Useful Profound Research Advancement (SUPRA) grant of approx. 4 Crore for the project proposal titled, "Probing near-field assisted spin-orbit interaction effects for fabricating novel spin-orbit interaction meta-devices". It may be pertinent to note SERB-SUPRA is a scheme beyond usual core research grants and is purposefully designed for high quality proposals consisting of new hypotheses or that can challenge existing ones and may offer disruptive technologies at the cutting edge. This scheme seeks to explore new scientific breakthroughs, with long-term impact on our fundamental scientific understanding.

Herewith on behalf of the whole IISER Kolkata research community we congratulate Prof. Ghosh for achieving the high value SUPRA grant.

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Posted on: December 26th, 2024

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Congratulations Varun Kushwaha and Deyasini Roy for winning Director's Gold Medals

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Posted on: June 22nd, 2024

Congratulations to Dhavala Sai Srinivas for winning the Chairman's Medal of Excellence!

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Posted on: June 22nd, 2024

It is a matter of immense pride to us that our alumni, Dr. Prantika Bhowmik, PhD student of Prof. Dibyendu Nandi, has joined the Physics Department of the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, as a faculty member.

Prantika was a first batch PhD student at the Centre of Excellence in Space Sciences, India (CESSI), joining the program in 2013. Her thesis focused on the development of computation models for forecasting the Sun\'s magnetic cycle. She received the Justice Oak Best Thesis Award from the Astronomical Society of India and the PhD at Large prize of the International Astronomical Union for her thesis work. Subsequently, she moved to the Solar Group at the Department of Mathematics at Durham University as a Postdoc. Finally, she joined IISc as an Assistant Professor this month.

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Posted on: June 7th, 2024

Anand Dev Ranjan has been awarded a 2024 Optics and Photonics Scholarship by SPIE, the International Society for optics and photonics, for potential contributions to optics, photonics, or a related field.

Dev Ranjan is currently working with Professor Ayan Banerjee in the Department of Physical Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (India). He focuses on two significant challenges in today’s world: The growing demand for faster and more cost-effective biosensors, supplemented by a need for more congenial fabrication strategies. “My work focuses on microbubble lithography - a technique for developing microscopic patterns of diverse materials using microbubbles created by a high-intensity laser spot inside optical tweezers,” noted Dev Ranjan. “These microbubbles can cause dispersed materials to self-assemble, resulting in the formation of continuous patterns.” Dev Ranjan is harnessing this technique to develop a multi-disease diagnostic platform. “I am pursuing research with a motivation to serve both science and society,” said Dev Ranjan. “Thank you, SPIE, for appreciating my work. I am especially grateful to my family, friends, professors, and Krushna.”

This month, the Society is awarding $303,000 in scholarships to 72 outstanding SPIE Student Members, based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline. Successful applicants were evaluated, selected, and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee, chaired by SPIE Senior Member Brian Primeau.

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Posted on: May 28th, 2024

Jeeban Kumar Nayak has been awarded a 2024 Optics and Photonics Scholarship by SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, for potential contributions to optics, photonics, or a related field.

Nayak is a Senior Research Fellow in the Bio-Optics and Nanophotonics Lab at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Kolkata (India), specializing in optics and photonics. “My primary research interest is investigating spin-orbit interactions of light in nanostructures,” said Nayak. “Additionally, I am working on developing various microscopy and sensing technologies with potential applications in biomedical research, chemical sciences, and metrology. The Optics and Photonics Scholarship from SPIE will greatly enhance my enthusiasm for pursuing a career in photonics and provide significant support for my future endeavors.”

This month, the Society is awarding $303,000 in scholarships to 72 outstanding SPIE Student Members, based on their potential contribution to optics and photonics, or a related discipline. Successful applicants were evaluated, selected, and approved by the SPIE Scholarship Committee, chaired by SPIE Senior Member Brian Primeau.

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Posted on: May 28th, 2024

We are very happy to know that our former INSPIRE fellow Dr. Debdatta Ray has joined the Electrical Engineering Department of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur as an Assistant Professor. Many congratulations to Debdatta!

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Posted on: March 1st, 2024

Our former DPS PhD student Niladri Modak’s Ph.D. thesis titled "Weak Measurements in Spin-Orbit Optical Systems: Fundamental Consequences and Application Prospects" and supervised by Prof. Nirmalya Ghosh has been selected for the Best Thesis Award at the National Physicists' Conclave 2024 (NPC 2024). NPC 2024 is a prestigious gathering of physicists, physics enthusiasts, researchers, and experts from across India.

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Posted on: February 10th, 2024

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The DPS PhD student Jeeban Kumar Nayak’s paper titled, “Spin-Direction-Spin Coupling of Quasiguided Modes in Plasmonic Crystals” (Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 193803 (2023) has been selected as the Best Publication of the Year 2023 at the National Physicists' Conclave 2024. NPC 2024 is a prestigious gathering of physicists, physics enthusiasts, researchers, and experts from across India. The award-winning work is the outcome of collaborative research of bioNap & Light-Matter Lab, DPS. Jeeban Kumar Nayak, a PhD student of DPS and a former BS-MS student is the primary author of this paper. The other students who were involved in this research are, Shyamal Guchhait (PhD), Harley Suchiang (former BS-MS student), and Subir Kumar Ray (former PhD student). This work was published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 193803 (2023) and featured on the cover page.

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Posted on: February 10th, 2024

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Prof. Ayan Banerjee, DPS has been appointed w.e.f 01.02.2024 as the Dean of Students' Affairs (DoSA) for three years. Congratulations Ayan!

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Posted on: February 5th, 2024

Prof. Rangeet Bhattacharyya, DPS has been appointed w.e.f 01.02.2024 as the Dean of Academic Affairs (DoAA) for three years. Congratulations Rangeet!

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Posted on: February 5th, 2024

Prof. Dibyendu Nandi received the Peraiah Foundation Lectureship Award for the year 2023. The lectureship is given every two years for outstanding work in theoretical astrophysics.

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Posted on: January 8th, 2024

Our former colleague Prof. Prasanta K. Panigrahi joined Siksha 'O' Anusandh University, Bhubaneswar with the task of building a Center of Quantum computing. We wish Prasanta great success in his new endeavor.

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Posted on: January 3rd, 2024

Prof. Soumitra Banerjee of DPS has been assigned the charge of the Director of IISER Kolkata. Congratulations SB!

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Posted on: December 20th, 2023

DPS Ph.D. student Sakshi Gupta was offered a Scientist position at the Defence Research and Development Organization (DRDO) of the Ministry of Defense, Government of India. She joined her position at DRDO in November 2023. Sakshi's research, supervised by Dibyendu Nandi, focuses on understanding the influence of stellar magnetized plasma winds on planetary and exoplanetary atmospheres. Many many congratulations!

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Posted on: December 12th, 2023

DPS Integrated Ph.D. student Yoshita Baruah was awarded a SCOSTEP Visiting Scholarship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and has completed her 3-month research visit from August to October 2023. Yoshita was also selected for the NASA Heliophysics Summer School at Boulder USA and attended the school in July 2023. Yoshita's research performed at CESSI and supervised by Dibyendu Nandi focuses on space weather and its impact on satellites.

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Posted on: December 12th, 2023

Adway Kumar Das, Anandamohan Ghosh, Ivan M. Khaymovich published in Physical Review Letters (Vol. 131, No. 16). Many congratulations! https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.166401 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.131.166401

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Posted on: November 16th, 2023

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“Spin-Direction-Spin Coupling of Quasiguided Modes in Plasmonic Crystals” has been published in Phys. Rev. Lett. 131, 193803 (2023) and featured on the cover page. Jeeban Kumar Nayak, a Ph.D. student of DPS and a former BS-MS student, is the primary author of this paper. The other students who were involved in this research are, Shyamal Guchhait (PhD), Harley Suchiang (former BS-MS student), and Subir Kumar Ray (former PhD student).

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Posted on: November 13th, 2023

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The IISER Kolkata iGEM team has bagged Gold in the iGEM 2023 competition. The team included three students from the Department of Physical Sciences - Soumyajit Datta, Swarnendu Saha, and Pratyay Pal. Prof. Rumi De from the DPS was one of the PIs whose guidance was invaluable!

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Posted on: November 7th, 2023

Prof. Dibyendu Nandi and a team of students and staff from CESSI and Physics were invited to witness the launch of the ISRO Aditya,-L1 mission from Sriharikota. CESSI, IISER Kolkata personnel have contributed to the development of the Solar Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope onboard the Aditya-L1 satellite. Prof. Nandi is a Co-I on the mission and a member of the Aditya Science Working Group. As Chairperson, he also led the Aditya-L1 Space Weather Monitoring and Predictions Plan Committee for ISRO envisioning how mission data can be used to extract space weather relevant information.

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Posted on: September 9th, 2023

On this Teachers' Day, the 5th of September 2023, IISER Kolkata felicitated Prof. Narayan Banerjee.

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Posted on: September 9th, 2023

This book, "UNIVERSE" written in the Mizo language, is part of an astronomy outreach for the local Mizo people. The book is prepared precisely in most laymen's terms without losing the philosophy of science. This is the first-ever book recorded in Mizo literature that is mainly devoted entirely to the understanding of the universe. The book starts with an introduction to particle physics and ends with the ultimate fate of the universe. It also includes chapters separately on a timeline of astronomy, the importance of astronomy in daily life, an introduction to the general theory of relativity, the large-scale structure of the universe, exploring the solar system, the life of stars, the galactic centre, exoplanets and astronomical techniques.

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Posted on: August 10th, 2023

Niladri Modak, IPhD student of the Department of Physical Sciences (DPS) and working in the bio-optics & Nanophotonics (bioNap) laboratory, has received the best thesis award in the 15th PHOTONICS conference organized at IISc, Bengaluru during 5-8 July 2023.

The biennial international conference PHOTONICS is a premier conference in the emerging areas of Photonic science and technologies and Optical Physics. Niladri’s PhD thesis entitled, “Weak Measurements in Spin-Orbit Optical Systems: Fundamental Consequences and Application Prospects” has been selected for the best thesis award in the Doctoral Symposium of PHOTONICS 2023. Congratulations Niladri!

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Posted on: July 14th, 2023

Congratulations Suprabha Mukhopadhyay (18MS095) for receiving both Director’s Gold Medal (highest CGPA in the DPS) and the Chairman’s Gold Medal (Best academic performance of a student securing overall highest CGPA across all departments). The award has given on the occasion of the 10th convocation of IISER Kolkata on the 27th of July, 2023.

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Posted on: June 29th, 2023

Indian Pulsar Timing Array reports early signs of a Gravitational Wave background in our combined dataset with the European Pulsar Timing Array. These results corroborate with those from NANOGrav and Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. This background likely has its origins in merging supermassive black holes all across the universe, though the signal may have signs of other phenomena such as phase transitions in the earth universe. These experiments use radio telescopes to observe pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars which can be used like celestial clocks. As GWs are perturbations in space-time, these experiments detect a change in the way these clocks keep time, hence detecting gravitational waves. Fazal Kareem, an undergrad student at IISER Kolkata is a part of the InPTA team which

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Posted on: June 29th, 2023

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Surendra Bhattarai (19MS136) and his team worked on exoplanets detection using Statistical tools like TRICERATOPS, VESPA, and other methods (lightcurve, and radial velocity) since last year, and the paper got published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS): "VaTEST I: Validation of Sub-Saturn Exoplanet TOI-181b in Narrow Orbit from its Host Star". Many many congratulations.

MNRAS DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stad543 arxiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.07957 After their first successful attempt, they expanded the study and validated 11 more new exoplanets. And this can be also be found on our 2nd paper: "VaTEST II: Statistical Validation of 11 TESS-Detected Exoplanets Orbiting K-type Stars" https://arxiv.org/abs/2301.09865 , which is published a few days ago in the Astronomical Journal (AJ).

And this work got highlighted in Times Of India press release:

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Posted on: June 8th, 2023

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We are happy to share the news that Adway Kumar Das, Ph.D. student of Prof. Anandamohan Ghosh of DPS, has won the 2023-24 Fulbright Nehru Doctoral Research Fellowship. Many congratulations to him and Prof. Ghosh.

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Posted on: May 23rd, 2023

On an occasion on 9th May 2023, our very own ADG (Dr. Ananda Dasgupta) received the INSA Teachers Award. Many congratulations!

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Posted on: May 9th, 2023

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Good news from the Spin Lab! Our former member Dr. Arnab Chakrabarti joined as an assistant professor in the Department of Physics, Rajiv Gandhi University. Congratulations Arnab! Wish you all the best, Arnab!

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Posted on: May 5th, 2023

Congratulations to Soumya Mukherjee from Ultrafast THz Spectroscopy Group and IISER Kolkata Department of Physical Sciences for the best poster prize in ifcfpm.com/user/home.

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Posted on: April 20th, 2023

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Dr. Debdatta Ray, a National Post-Doctoral Fellow, working in bioNAP lab, Department of Physical Sciences, IISER Kolkata has recently been awarded the INSPIRE Faculty Fellowship. Her award-winning proposal is “Spin-orbit photonics in the palm of your hand: A first-of-its-kind miniaturized weak measurement meta-device with SOI metasurfaces”. Before joining IISER Kolkata, Dr. Ray was working as a post-doctoral fellow in the University of Muenster, Germany with the Women in Science (WIRE) Fellowship. She was also awarded the Swiss Government Excellence Scholarship to complete her Ph.D. from the Swiss Federal Institute Of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL, Switzerland).

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Posted on: April 13th, 2023

The behavior of primordial quantum fluctuations generated during inflation dictates the distribution of dark matter haloes in the universe at later times. These haloes attract gas clouds which gravitate to form galaxies and clusters of galaxies that we observe today. In this work, it is shown that in a specific class of inflationary models, called ultra slow-roll inflation, the primordial scalar fluctuations can be nullified at a specific scale so that the corresponding distribution of dark matter haloes will be suppressed over that scale. This effect gets imprinted as a dip in the spectrum of 21-cm lines emitted by hydrogen gas clouds that are captured by these haloes during the Dark Ages. Interestingly, such a dip can be detected by future 21-cm observatories such as an array of radio detectors on the far side of the moon. If detected, such a dip in the signal will confirm an ultra-slow roll model of inflation. This in turn shall have interesting implications for other phenomena predicted by the model such as the amplification of primordial tensor fluctuations that propagate as stochastic gravitational waves. Journal Reference: Shyam Balaji, H. V. Ragavendra, Shiv K. Sethi, Joseph Silk, and L. Sriramkumar, Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 261301 – Published 22 December 2022

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Posted on: February 17th, 2023

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Nilanjana Chanda, a DPS IPhD student working under the supervision of Prof. Rangeet Bhattacharyya, won the Best Paper Presentation award for the paper titled \"Optimal fidelity in implementing Grover\'s search algorithm on the open quantum system\", at the International Conference on Quantum Computing and Communications (QCC-2023). The conference was hosted at Baba Farid College (affiliated with Punjab University), Bathinda, Punjab, India. February 9-11, 2023.

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Posted on: February 16th, 2023

Many congratulations to our very own ADG (Dr. Ananda Dasgupta) for the INSA Teacher Award 2022. The INSA website reads "Prof. Ananda Dasgupta has distinguished himself as a physics educator par excellence, over a wide variety of subjects in physics, both theoretical and computational. His teaching has consistently inspired several students over the past two decades, spanning undergraduate, postgraduate and research levels."

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Posted on: February 1st, 2023

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It is an honour for the Department of Physical Sciences to have talented students who made us proud by making IISER Kolkata the winner of IICM 2022. Hearty congratulations to the following DPS students who were a part of the IISERK contingent: Gold : Arkadeep Mitra (Debate) Anurit Dey , Sanchari Ray (Short film) Silver : Anchit Bhair , Ritwik Piduri, Sanchari Ray, Angshuman Bhandari, Arkoprava Ganguly (Drama) Angshuman Bhandari, Arikta Saha , Anchit Bhair (Short Film) Bronze : Namrata Banerjee (Wall Painting) Rajit Sen , Rajrupa Mondal (Battle of Bands) We will also like to congratulate all the other DPS students who were part of the IICM 2022 contingent from IISER K which includes : Saisrinivas Dhavala (Quiz), Sounak Sinha Biswas (Quiz), Barnali Das(Face painting), Navonil Saha (Photography), Meghna Dutta (Dance), Siddhartha Bandyopadhyay (Dance)

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Posted on: January 2nd, 2023

Prof. Satyabrata Raj has recently been appointed as the Dean of Research and Development. Congratulations to him!

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Posted on: December 18th, 2022

Dr. Samrat Roy won the Best Thesis award in the National Laser Symposium that recently took place at IIT-Kharagpur. Samrat's thesis was supervised by Prof. Bipul Pal. Congratulations Samrat!

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Posted on: December 8th, 2022

Mrs. Rajni Marick from DPS received the 1st prize in an essay writing competition held during Vigilance Awareness Week. In the picture, she is receiving the certificate from Srihari Pandey, IPS (DCP, North Zone), Barrackpore Div. Congratulations Rajni!

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Posted on: November 13th, 2022

Prof. Nirmalya Ghosh, Professor, Department of Physical Sciences has been elected as a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI). Congratulations Nirmalya!

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Posted on: November 3rd, 2022

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Congratulations Prof. Prasanta K. Panigrahi on his new book! The book is published by Springer

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Posted on: November 3rd, 2022

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Congratulations to Sampurna Karmakar and Saikat Dutta from DPS for receiving the prestigious PMRF fellowship.

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Posted on: October 26th, 2022

Our Alumni Dr. Sayan Choudhury from DPS has joined Harish-Chandra Research Institute as a faculty. He is working on the Many-body Physics of Quantum and Ultracold Matter. Congratulations Sayan! https://twitter.com/Sayan_Quantum/status/1575077117330526208

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Posted on: October 14th, 2022

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Congratulations to Prof. Soumitro Banerjee from DPS for being enlisted in the "World’s Top 2% Scientists" Catalog in 2022.

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Posted on: October 13th, 2022

Prof. Prasanta K. Panigrahi, Professor DPS has been assigned the charge of Director, IISER Kolkata w.e.f 12.10.2022. Congratulations Prasant.

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Posted on: October 13th, 2022

Dr. Koushik Dutta has become an Associate of Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.Congratulations Prof. Koushik Dutta

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Posted on: September 7th, 2022

We are extremely happy and delighted to share that Dr. Rumi De is a part of the group of 125 women chosen across the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics - "Women in STEM: Vanguards of India@75" : http://anyflip.com/sruan/adwe/ As India celebrates 'Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav' at lndia@75, to highlight the women achievers leading the way across STEM in order to encourage more women to come forward in the sector, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) developed a comprehensive edition of a Compendium on "Women in STEM: Vanguards of lndia@75". The Compendium features the success stories and achievements of women luminaries, academicians, researchers, administrators, policymakers, business strategists, tech leaders, entrepreneurs, innovators, and others who have made a significant mark in the arena of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Prof. Ajay Sood, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, released the Compendium at the Inaugural Session of the Women in STEM Summit on 22 July 2022.

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Posted on: July 25th, 2022

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A team of researchers led by Prof. Rajesh Kumble Nayak and Prof. Bhavtosh Bansal from the Department of Physical Sciences (DPS) of Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata, has been able to demostrate experimentally the slowing down and enhancement of fluctuations at an abrupt phase transition (APT) using thermally induced Mott transition. The research which has been published in Physical Review Letters shows that the strong abrupt transition is controlled by a critical-like singularity in the hysteretic metastable phase.

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Posted on: March 16th, 2020

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