ST. STEPHEN’S CENTRE FOR EXPERIMENTAL PHYSICS
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
(I) AIM of the Centre
The centre for experimental research is a space from where the faculty members motivate, guide, and involve the undergraduate students in different research related activities/training. It is a facility where the students will be motivated and trained to do research related activities in a manner which could help them to develop research aptitude under the guidance of the physics faculty members.
The centre activities primarily revolve around the available instrumentation. Small research activities in the form of readings, learning instrumental techniques, handling of instruments, material preparation and their characterization, setting up a new experiment will be floated for the students.
Students from 1st, 2nd and 3rd year can involve themselves with the above activities of the centre at different levels. Selection of students will be based on their interests and commitment to the assigned work. Involvement in the regular discussions and presentations will define the assessment score of the individual students. The assessment will form the basis for the next assignment. Please note that the faculty members associated with the centre will not encourage students to give priority to centre activities over their regular credit courses. The centre policy shall be that the student should participate to full extent in every credit course along with the centre activity for their overall development. Feedback from the faculty members teaching the credit courses will be taken every semester to confirm the above for making the final assessment.
Research proposals will be floated every year, or from time to time as the case may be, to invite applications from the students for the same. The centre can also float interdisciplinary projects and invites applications from the students for the same. Students can also submit the project proposals which will be reviewed by the faculty members for its relevance and feasibility with the existing facility of the centre. So, keeping in mind the level of understanding of a student, which we can correlate with the courses passed, and depending on how much time they can work for the experimental centre activities, for example third year students are very much occupied as they have to prepare for various entrance tests, interviews etc., three categories will be formed for the research proposals to involve students of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd years at different levels. The three categories are as follows:
Category I: This is the primary level and for Ist year students. In this category the project proposals would be such that the students can improve their understanding or strengthen the basics of the particular area. Students will be provided reading materials for a particular subject or specialized area. More importantly the emphasis will be given to the fact that the students must devote their maximum time learning the various experimental facilities of the centre. They must learn how to operate various instruments available in the centre. At the end of the academic year the students will be assessed through hard copy submission (basically a report) and a presentation.
Category II: This is the secondary level and for 2nd year students. In this category the proposals are very specific. The objectives of the projects are clearly defined and are time bound. The students will have to learn various characterization techniques and data analysis methods to take data and conclude their findings. At the end of the year the students will again be assessed based on the hard copy submission of the report and a presentation.
Category III: This is the final level and for 3rd year students. This may be an advanced stage of the second year project or an independent project and finished with the submission of a final report.
During the assessment, in all the three categories, feedback from other faculty members will be taken in order to ensure that the project activities have not affected the regular credit courses.
Important instructions and prerequisites for students:
- The centre research activity is in addition to the regular class work. The student must manage to strike a balance between the two.
- The assessment at the year-end will also have a component from the class assessment. The faculty members will never encourage students to bunk regular classes for centre activities. Faculty members involved with the centre believe in overall development of the students.
- Students will not be encouraged or given any credit of solely working for the projects in the assessment process.
- The students must ensure that once they are inducted into the project they must act responsibly and work wholeheartedly for the entitled work particularly during the holidays/semester breaks/summer or winter breaks etc.
II Available Major Instrumentation (deposition and characterization) at the centre
1. Thermal Evaporation Unit
2. Xenon Lamp Source and Filters
3. Source Measure Unit (Keithey)
4. Digital Multimeter Unit (Keithley)
5. Expeyes Kit with Standard Accessory (Phoenix Kit)
6. Digital Multimeter (Protek – 506)
7. Digital Micrometer
8. Vernier Calliper
9. Hot plate with Magnetic Stirrer
10. Digital Lux Meter
11. DC Power Supply (Scientific Mode No. PSD 3003)
12. DSO, 100 MHz, 4- Channel (Rigol DS1105B)
13. UV lamp for Photolithography
14. USB-GPIB Cable
15. Programmable Power Suppy (Scientific PSD9005)
16. Arbitrary Wave Generator (Rigol DG1422A)
17. High Temperature Furnace
18. Ball Milling Machine
19. Spin Coater
20. Water Chiller
21. UV-Spectrophotometer
22. Sonicator
