DAMP Physics, IITB

Instructor Name Avinash Mahajan, Pragya Das Prerequisites NA Important Topics Covered Experiments in solid state physics involving measurement of electron spin resonance, nuclear magnetic spin resonance and theoretical concepts behind these phenomenon, measurement of temperature dependence of semiconductor and band gap, dielectric constant of materials, and Hall effect. Experiments in nuclear physics involving measurement of absorption coefficient of Gamma rays, gamma ray energies using scintillation spectrometer, Compton scattering, angular correlation of gamma ray photons released in electron positron annihilation, working of Geiger counter. Assignments 10 experiments in total. 5 in NP and 5 in SSP. Grading of each experiment varies depending on NP/SSP experiment.   Exams and Grading One practical exam and one quiz before endsems. Quiz is mostly easy, tests concepts and only a few questions are factual.    Books/Online Study Material Reading manual was en

Instructor Name Prof. T. Kundu and Prof. Dinesh Kabra Prerequisites Optics Important Topics Covered As a lab course, it was rooted in experiments for using spectroscopy to find properties of atoms and molecules as well as the working of a few optical setups.   Assignments Only experiments.   Exams and Grading A quiz and a lab practical exam along with in-lab experimental sessions. Respondent Basuhi R. Note: This is a review to help you make a more informed choice about how to study for this course and/or choosing this course. While we've tried to keep it objective and complete, one must keep in mind that students have varying interests, methods of study, and the course itself changes from year to year.

Instructor Name: Prof. Kantimay Dasgupta Course Type: Theory Pre-requisites:  Introduction to Condensed Matter Physics Course Content: 1. X-Ray Diffraction 2. Electron and Neutron Diffraction 3. Spectroscopic Techniques - X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Ultraviolet Photoelectron Spectroscopy (UPS), Photoluminescence, ARPES,  Raman & Brillouin Scattering for Phonon Bandstructure   4. Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Books: No books, only lecture notes. Lectures: The professor effectively used both slides and the blackboard. No attendance policy. Assignments: Ungraded tutorials were given and discussed very extensively in class.   Exams and Grading: 1 Midsem, 1 Endsem, 2 Quizzes - Questions are fairly numerical and one usually deals with real experimental data.  Follow-up Courses : Could be helpful for labs in Solid State Physics. Pro-tips: Attend all tutorial classes as the questions in the exam are fairly similar. Respondent: R. Ba

Instructor Name: Prof. Pragya Das Course Type: Theory Pre-requisites:  Quantum Mechanics 1, Classical Mechanics Course Content: 1. Nuclear Structure 2. Independent Particle Model 3. Shell Model 4. Nuclear Decay (Alpha, Beta, Gamma) 5. Nuclear Reactions (Direct and Compound) 6. Elementary Particle Physics 7. Applications of Nuclear Physics in Medicine Books: Samuel S. Wong, Introductory Nuclear Physics Bernard L. Cohen, Concepts of Nuclear Physics David Griffiths, Introduction to Elementary Particles Lectures: There is no attendance, but 10% of total marks is allotted to solving tutorial questions on the board to encourage active participation. Only slides were used. The content is usually on the easier side with basic quantum mechanics and classical mechanics involved.   Assignments: Timely tutorials were uploaded and marked problems were solved in the class voluntarily by students with the marks incentive. Exams and Grading: Midsem (30), 1 Quiz (10)

Instructor Name: Prof. Gopal Dixit Course Type: Theory Pre-requisites:  Quantum Mechanics 1 & 2 Course Content: 1. Fine and Hyper-fine Structure of an Atom 2. Stark and Zeeman effect 3. Many electron atoms 4. Hartree Fock Theory 5. Photoelectric Effect, Photoionization 6. Molecular Structure 7. Molecular Spectra Books: Bransden and Joachain, Physics of Atoms and Molecules Lectures: The professor used both slides and the blackboard, but slides are not very informative. No attendance policy. Assignments/Tutorials: Tutorials were given but were not properly discussed. Not difficult but often intensive in calculations.  Exams and Grading: 1 Quiz (10), 1 Midsem (25), 1 Endsem (40) and 1 Course Project (25) Pro-tips: Exams were open-notes, but relied heavily on calculations. Strict grading of exams, partial marks were not awarded. Pay attention to homework questions casually given by the Professor during class as they were usually prominently f

Instructor Name: Prof. Vaijayanthi M. Sarma Course Type: Theory Pre-requisites:  None Course Content: 1. Definition, Constituents and Features of Language, Can Animal Communication be called Language? Myths about Languages, etc 2. Building blocks of languages: Phonetics (speech sounds), Morphology (word formation), Syntax (sentence structure) and Semantics (meaning) 3. Examples of languages, real and fictional to understand the building blocks 4. Poetic Devices relating to Sound: Rhyme, Rhythm, Alliteration, etc 5. Historical Linguistics 6. Lexical and Phrasal Semantics, Humour (Eg. Word-play) 7. Writing Systems 8. Language and Music 9. Language and Thought Other topics covered: Books: 1. An Introduction to Language, Victoria Fromkin, Robert Rodman, Nina Hyams. (Main Textbook) 2. The Language Instinct (Recommended Nonfiction Read) Lectures: No attendance policy.  Due to a large class, slides are used for teaching. While the slides are available,

Informal Talks 1.0 On 20 September 2018, the DAMP team organised the first of a series of Informal Talks, where professors who were connected to IIT through their student lives addressed students about their journey through academia. The first of this series had Prof. Sumiran Pujari, Prof. Sai Vinjanampathy from the Physics Department and Prof. Ashwin Tulapurkar from the Electrical Department. After the session, students hung out and had an informal discussion with the professors over chai and samosas. Here are a few glimpses of the event.

Research Talks 1.0 On November 2nd the DAMP team organized an informal presentation by Prof. Varun Bhalerao and Prof. Mithun Mitra, who explained their fields of research and the general work they’re engaged in. Prof. Bhalerao works on instrumentation development and operation for ground based as well as satellite telescopes. His talk focused on neutron star collisions and their observation across multiple spectra, such as IR, optical, and gravitational.  Moving from the astronomical to the microscopic, Prof. Mitra spoke on how people from non biological fields contribute to the life sciences. Together it was a great introduction to the interdisciplinary work done in the department. Prof. Bhalerao began with a beautiful time lapse video of the GROWTH telescope at Ladakh. He moved on to the importance of studying neutron star collisions, which are primary sources for the synthesis of  heavy metals and provided insights to the equation of state to the neutron star. A co