The school is a recipient of a number of awards and recognitions. Notable among them are the Center for Advanced Study (CAS), and Networking Resource Centre (NRC) of UGC, selected as one of the five founding centres for the Theoretical Physics Seminar Circuit (TPSC) and the recipient of Fund for Improvement of Science and Technology (FIST) infrastructure scheme of DST, and is acknowledged as a Centre of Excellence by the Third World Academy of Sciences, Trieste, Italy.
The School offers active research programmes to train Ph.D. scholars and has gone on to achieving national and international recognition in areas that include condensed matter physics, high-energy physics (experiment and theory), quantum field theory, cosmology, gravity, nonlinear optics, quantum optics, laser physics, nanoscience, and electronics science. In particular the areas of research include critical phenomena, liquid crystals, thin films, ion beam physics, semiconductors, nanostructured materials, quantum dots, cold atoms, quantum field theory, heavy flavor phenomenology, gravitational waves, neutrino physics, experimental high energy physics, quantum computing, high Tc superconductivity, shape formation in metals and ceramics, magnetism, modern quantum optics, femtosecond laser experiments, ferroelectrics and microwave devices, experiments and computational studies on soft and active matter, biological matter and Photonic Crystals
The teaching programs cater to, educate and train a broad section of students in Physics with specialization in Condensed Matter Physics, Quantum Optics and Photonics, Particle and Highenergy Physics and Electronics Science and Technology.
Dedicated teaching labs at the IMSc / M.Sc. level with equal emphasis on theory and experiments with an independent project work during the final two semesters are major thrust aspects of the teaching program. The student-teacher ratio is highly favorable for individual interactions.
In addition to core Physics courses, a large number of specializations, optional and elective courses are offered and taught by field-experts. All the courses are revised and upgraded periodically keeping in mind the changing education and research scenario.
There are 14 faculty members in the condensed matter physics group and they are working on a wide range of topics in experimental as well as theoretical condensed matter physics. The school has the state-of-the-art experimental research facilities that includes FESEM, Nano Indentation, Helium Liquefier, Pulsed Laser Deposition System, AFM, Nanocluster Deposition System, Ion Beam Deposition System, RF Sputtering System, HR-XRD, E-beam Evaporation System, Dynamic Laser Tweezers, etc. The faculty members work on advanced aspects of a variety of topics such as Superconductivity, Magnetism, Phase Transitions, Critical Phenomena, Glasses and Ceramics, Liquid Crystals, Thin Films, Ion-Solid Interactions, Semiconductors and Super Lattices, Nanostructured Materials, Low-dimensional Systems, Localization, Molecular Electronics, Spintronics, Polarons and Bipolarons, Computational Materials Science and Density Functional Theory, Strongly Correlated Fermi systems, etc. Some faculty members are also working exclusively on electronic materials and device fabrication. Several patents have been obtained and technology has been transferred to the industries by several faculty members.
The High Energy Physics Group works on a variety of areas ranging from Cosmology, Early Universe, Quantum Field Theory and Gravity, Flavour Physics, CP violation, Physics Beyond the Standard Model, Neutrino Physics, Dark Matter Phenomenology, different aspects of Quark Gluon Plasma both in the early Universe as well as in Relativistic Heavy-ion collisions. The School of Physics has had a long tradition of research in High Energy Physics theory. The group is starting to make a conscious effort to supplement its active high energy theory group with High Energy experiments to make it integrated and holistic. Currently, it is participating in the two major HEP experimental programs in the world, the longbaseline Neutrino experiments at Fermilab, USA and the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, Geneva. The group is a member of the NOvA (NuMI Off-axis νe Appearance) and DUNE (Deep Underground Neutrino Experiments) at Fermilab and the CMS (Compact Muon Solenoid) experiment at CERN.
Since its inception, research and teaching activities in the area of theoretical quantum optics has been a major thrust area in the School of Physics. During the following decade the activities expanded into experimental Laser Physics and Nonlinear Optics. Expert training of students in these thrust areas has produced several high-quality researchers whose contributions brought in accolades to the group and the School of Physics. More recently, the research activities carried out in the school have expanded into several diversified and emerging areas of research including Optics and Applications of Structured Surfaces and Amplitude-Phase-Polarization Structured Light Beams with Tunable Optical Angular Momentum; Laser Generation, Detection and Applications of Shock Waves; Laser Trapping, Tweezing and Cooling ofBiological and Optical Matter and Experimental Quantum Optics and Nanophotonics.
The school is quite forthcoming in organizing national and international scientific meetings, conferences and symposia to benefit the research community both within and outside the school. The school regularly offers outreach activities including refresher courses and courses to train teachers and in teaching methodologies. The school invites and is visited by eminent researchers including Nobel laureates and other distinguished scholars both for research interactions and pedagogy.
Past members and alumni of the school have been Vice Chancellor of Universities, Director of National Laboratories as well as holding many prestigious academic positions both in India and abroad.
