DAMP Physics, IITB

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Mekhala Paranjpe H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, United Kingdom Process of Securing the Intern: There was an IAF that appeared at the beginning of February on the PT cell. It had three preferences for experiments in high energy physics going on at the University. For my year, the process was fairly simple. I simply had to sign up with a preference order and got selected for a Skype interview after the first shortlist, which I cleared. After the selection, I was offered a choice of two of those projects of which I chose the one that matched our summer vacation timeline. Work: I worked to interface the electron detector environment using temperature and humidity sensors, with the MIDAS data acquisition system through a Raspberry Pi. This was a part of the prototype design of the detector for the Mu3e Experiment. The experiment is driven from the Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and involves twelve to...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Sukanya Kudva University of Waterloo Process of Securing the Intern: I had got in through Mitacs. Mitacs is a programme for summer internship in Canadian universities. The application deadline in mid-September, interviews happen some time in November and results are out in mid-January. They have a very long application. It includes a SOP, minimum of one reco and browsing through a huge list of projects. So if you are interested, start early. Work: I was working in a quantum computing group that specialised in semiconductor quantum dots. We were trying to implement "virtual dots" for a double quantum dot( basically there were 2 dots on the same chip). I had to understand how applying a voltage on one dot affected the other through models. The idea behind virtual dots was to make a basis confirmation in the external applied voltage space to decouple the dots. The aim of the project was to establish a setup for future experiment...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Sowmya Ravichandran Concordia University, Montreal, Canada Process of Securing the Intern: I went through MITACs; I had to choose projects on the MITACs portal, and my professor selected me through a Skype interview. Work: The research group that I was a part of works in hydrology and climate science. The objective of my project was to study the trends in freeze and thaw patterns of ice over global mountain regions and how climate change has influenced them. It involved extracting and analysing the global data of various climatic and hydroclimatic variables and studying their trends. Workload and Tools used: The workload was pretty chill and for the most part, I didn't have to come in at off hours. Software used - MATLAB. Learning Experience: Academically, I learnt about how research works and life in academia, which really helped me in deciding my next step in my life, career-wise. Apart from that, my major takeaway...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Sagar Kumar Seth Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg Process of Securing the Intern: It was an IAF on Placement Cell Work: My project was in the field of Computational Condensed Matter. Along with my co-intern I computed the Raman spectra of a novel material Cu2GeS3 and showed the transition in spectra from ZnS to Cu2GeS3. Cu2GeS3 is a material with applications in Solar Photovoltaics. An experimental group in the same University had gathered the experimental data of Raman spectra, we were supposed to match with the results and find the phonon vibrations corresponding to the peaks observed. Workload and Tools used: It was a chill European environment. Professor is well aware that going around Europe is also a part of the Internship. We never had to work off office hours. Quantum Espresso, Gulp, Python were the software packages used. Methods of finding phonon dispersion using differe...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Ananay Garg APT Portfolio, Bangalore Process of Securing the Intern: Signed the JAF through the internship team. One phone interview and that's all. Work: I was working elec RTL verification through python Workload and Tools used: Work load was not very high, work was fun to do. Software was mostly python and other company specific things. Courses that were part of the curriculum/ additional courses: All the elec courses Learning Experience: How to live an independent life, how to work in teams, among other things. Places Visited: Banglore city and around it, ooty, pondi, Chennai, hyderabad. My Expectations (before and after): I wanted an exposure to the corporate culture - in terms of lifestyle, work, goal setting. Which I got. Contact Details:  ananay98@gmail.com

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Aman Sharma JParc, Japan Process of Securing the Intern: Sokendai summer program. Apply through their website. Select department you're interested in. 2 reco letters and resume. Work: Worked on modifying the data reduction process for a group working on Neutron scattering experiments. In particular studying material structure with hydrogen atoms, I was to implement corrections for inelastic scattering. The program accepts students in various fields. Material and life sciences, experimental and theoretical particle studies and accelerator physics. Workload and Tools used: Theory used was that of Scattering Analysis, covered in analytical methods. Used python to code for the data reduction process. Some understanding of basic experimental particle physics was helpful in understanding the actual experiments and other works on the campus. Courses that were part of the curriculum/ additional courses: Data Analysis, Anal...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Ayush Bhardwaj Alpha Alternatives Pvt. Ltd. - Quant team Process of Securing the Intern: It was through indeed.com, although I did try through PT cell, and other external sites as well. Work: Goal of the project was to modify an existing trade strategy by filtering out the trades during chaotic markets using machine learning. Workload and Tools used: Work was very interesting, and that was the single reason I sat their from 9 in morning to 8 in night (despite the timings being 9AM - 6PM) and the work environment was really good, especially in the quant team. Software Packages used -- MATLAB, Python, MS Excel and Amibroker (first three being used extensively) Hardware instruments - PC ( :P)  Essential theories - Chaos theory, Machine Learning Courses that were part of the curriculum/ additional courses: Nonlinear Dynamics (Prof. Punit Parmananda) Data Analysis and Interpretation (Prof. Vikram Rentala) Ma...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Shivam Singh Pundir Textron - Bell Helicopters Process of Securing the Intern: IAF Work: So I had to work on building futuristic models of hybrid energy storage for fully electrical powered aircraft systems using state of the art technologies like supercapacitors, superconductors, Al air battery etc. T he problem statement was the sustain the flight plan of a conventional Helicopter, but to power is using this new energy storage system. With the era of Electric vehicles being more and more prominent, there is a severe need for other electric based transport media as well. The currently used commercial Lithium based batteries are not enough to provide such huge amount of power requirements. This is where devices like supercapacitors and superconductors come in, with the potential to pump huge amounts of stored power. Courses that were part of the curriculum/ additional courses: Knowledge of CMP, Stat physics, Electrodynami...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Riya Australina National University Process of Securing the Intern: It was through an University organized fully sponsored program called Future Research Talents Award (FRT). ANU has collaboration with IIT Bombay. Around end of August, dean-ir sent a mail to student notices about the program. I asked my project supervisor to send Letter of Recommendation to him. Dean-IR selected 10 students for nomination. Then we need to fill the form at ANU website with usual cv, statement of purpose, recomendee details etc. There was no interview. At beginning of December that I am selected. Work: I was working in SABRE dark matter detector collaboration. My project was on scintilator characterisation. The aim was to test if any material in the detector-system is not affecting the liquid scintillator. This was done by keeping the scintillator in contact with the material samples and taking weekly measurement of light yield properties. One ...

Intern Experience Summer - 2019   Keshav Janyani Max Planck Institute of Gravitational Physics, Potsdam, Germany Process of Securing the Intern: I had to App to the professor who selected me here and then I applied for DAAD Fellowship Work: I was working on Classical General Relativity. The work involved on how the spin of particles propagated along the particle trajectory. I in particular was working on Photons and my work involved trying to solve Maxwell's equations in Schwarschild geometry in a particular situation. The overall big picture that my group is working on could be termed as 'Gravitational spin hall effect'. Tools used: Maple Courses that were part of the curriculum/ additional courses: General Relativity, Quantum Mechanics and interestingly even Photonics Learning Experience: Academically, I learnt how different is the way of working of mathematicians and physicists and I liked how being precise was always emphasized. On ...

SN Bhatt Fellowship Program Contributed by Rahul Dandwate (SN Bhatt summer research fellow, 2018) The SN Bhatt Fellowship Program is a summer research internship program at International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS - TIFR), Bangalore. It is an 8-week program from mid-May to mid-July. They have variety of research areas in which ranges from condensed matter physics, astrophysics, physical biology, theoretical high energy physics and mathematics.  Eligibility : 2 nd  or 3 rd  year undergraduate or master’s student. Application procedure : There is an online application form which needs to be submitted.  ·        2 letter of recommendation. ·        A statement of purpose stating your research interests. ·        A copy of your resume. ·        A copy of your transcript. Timeline :  ·     ...