Applied Physics and Optoelectronics

The research activities of the department started since the establishment of the department in 1956. Theresearch and development activities of initial years is restricted to Nuclear and condensed matterphysics. Since, 1985 the department established research activities in Electronics, Optics and alliedareas of Physics. From 1992 onwards the major areas of research.

The department has been running number of collaborative programs at National level with RRCAT –Indore, BARC – Mumbai, DAVV – Indore and IISc – Bangalore. The international collaboration withthe Institut fur Physik, Humboldt Universitat zu Berlin, Germany was sponsored by DST, GoI andDAAD, Germany since 2003. Several research projects are funded by DST, DAE, CSIT, DBT, AICTE,DRDO and UGC. A large number of full time research fellows are working for research leading to thedegree of Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.).

The PG students are encouraged to take up teir major project work at leading national institutes andR&D organizations like IISc, IITs, CEERI-Pilani, CSIO-Chandigarh, RRCAT, BARC, etc. Invitedlectures are organized regularly for the students to get exposure to current areas of Research &Development in National and International levels. The Department also celebrate National Science Dayevery year. More than 2000 students and teachers from various schools and colleges have visited thelaboratories during National Science Day in the past 5 years and participated in various events.

NanoScience & Technology Laboratory: Current R & D Activities

Since the last decade (2005-2015) the Department of Applied Physics & Optoelectronics, SGSITS, Indore has been working for the growth and characterization of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films of ZnO, NiO and MgO. For the growth of TCO thin films, we have indigenously developed an aerosol assisted chemical vapor deposition(AA-CVD) system in nano science & technology laboratory of the department. The motivation of the present work is focused on the use of a cost effective and scalable technique for the deposition of pure, doped and substituted TCO thin films. Therefore, we have explore the potentiality of a homemade AA-CVD system for the fabrication of single and multilayer of pure and doped ZnO thin films. Currently, around 6-8 PG (M. Sc. and M. Tech.) and one PhD students is working in the fields of material science and thin solid films. So far we have fabricated and characterized a number of AA-CVD grown thin films of Mgx Zn1-xO,Al:ZnO andmultilayer thin films like M:ZnO/ZnO; M:ZnO/Al2O3 /ZnO;M:ZnO/NiO and M:ZnO/MgO/ZnO. The results have been published in international journals and presented in a number of national and international conferences. We have received the first prize for the best paper presentation in the research scholars meet held at UGC-DAE-CSR, Indore in December 2014.

So far, the physical characterization of pure, doped and substituted ZnO thin films leads to the accomplishment to explore the potentiality of present AA-CVD system for the fabrication of TCO thin films. I-V characteristics of bi and tri-layer of AA-CVD grown thin films served satisfactory results matched with the thin film diode and transistors properties, respectively. The observed characteristic properties the ZnO based single and multilayer thin films were found to be appreciably good and motivate us to enhance the quality of present work.

Currently,we are extending our efforts to perform the following tasks:

• In-suite measurement of thickness of deposition and the rotation of substrate, which will help us to control the optical, structural, morphological and electrical properties of thin films.
• Fabrication and characterization of some alternative p-type TCO thin films like NiO, Ni:ZnO, AgCuO2 , AlCuO2 etc. These films may be further used for the fabrication of hetrojunction thin film diodes, transistors and solar cells.
• Doping of Ga, Mn, Ni etc. could also be possible in the AA-CVD grown ZnO thin films.
• Study the effect of metal semiconductor contacts over the properties of thin film structures.
• Fabrication and characterization of thin film transistor structure in different modes of operations like top gate, double bottom gate, etc. Many parameters like channel width, length, resistance and type of channel could be further analyzed. Moreover, effect of gate capacitance and temperature variations on the threshold voltage could also be studied.
• Study the effect of different buffer layer like MgO, SiO2 , Al2O3 and MgxZn1-xO over the output and transfer characteristics of fabricated thin film transistor could also be performed.

Fiber Optics Lab

The Department has well organized Fiber Optics Laboratory which houses around 15 experiments. Allthese experiments are performed by M.Tech (Optoelectronics) and M.Sc. (Applied Physics) students.This lab has research activities in the area of fiber optic sensors, where Ph.D. and PG Project studentscarry out their research work. The laboratory is equipped with tunable, pulsed and CW lasers, variousoptical fibers, fiber optic couplers, circulator, Fiber Bragg Gratings, Long period grating, Fiber spliceMachine, Optical spectrum Analyser, Monochromator, DSO, Fiber Connectorization kit etc. The fiberoptics group of the department is being published their research papers in various national,international conferences, symposium as well as in peer reviewed national and international journals.

Optical Communication

The thrust areas of research under Optical Communication are Optical Wireless links, WDM,wavelength interleaving, newer modulation formats, etc. In brief, the experimental analysis of FreeSpace Optical Link under controlled atmospheric turbulence created within an indoor chamber, whichreplicates the outdoor environment. The free space needs to be characterized and optimized to maintaina particular strength of turbulence. The performance of the link is evaluated by calculating theparameters like BER, SNR, min. received power etc. Other activities include integration of RoF andWDM-PON services in wavelength interleaved optical distribution systems. Also theoretical analysis ofOFDM, MIMO-OFDM using Selective mapping techniques and In-house development of variouseducational kits consisting of Pulse modulation techniques, Analog & Digital modulations, OPAMP &Digital electronics and Subcarrier modulations is also being carried out.

Appropriate number of licenses are available for Simulation tool ‘OptiSystem V-12’ which providestechnical computing environment for fiber based optical communication system. Optisym simulatesoptical links in the transmission layer of modern optical networks. Through its academic and researchactivities, DWDM, FSO, OTDM, interleaving networks, OFDM, CDMA, all Optical Half Adder etc.are simulated and reported by post graduate students. The results are published in various refereedNational / International Journals as well as presented in National / International conferences.

Laser Laboratory

Following experiments are available in the Laser Laboratory.

• Laser beam aligning and measurement of beam divergence.
• Gaussian beam parameter measurements (knife edge and CCD based profilometer)
• Measurement of angle of divergence before and after Galilean Beam expander
• Measurement of angle of divergence before and after Keplarian Beam expander
• Measurement of Screw Parameters (pitch, ID, OD) using laser diffraction
• Optical Image processing using Spatial Frequency filters
• Measurement of r63 using Electro-optic effect
• Measurement o Verdet constant using Magneto-optic effect
• Measurement of coherence length of laser using Michelson interferometer
• Study of Second harmonic generation efficiency using Nd:YAG laser
• Construction and reconstruction of Hologram
• Measurement of Youngs modulus using double exposure holography

PG Students of M.Sc. (Applied Physics) as well as M.Tech. (Optoelectronics) courses use thelaboratory perform the above experiments.

The laser laboratory has a Holography setup. The dark room facilities, chemical handling facility, timercontrol etc required for the construction and reconstruction of hologram are available. The setup couldalso make single and double exposure holograms. The laser laboratory has He-Ne laser (10),Semiconductor lasers (10), Optical Power / Energy meters (12), Holography kit (Newport), High powerDC magnet (2Tesla), Optical benches, Optical table tops, Lens Kits, CCD, CMOS, etc. For moreinformation and Laboratory manual please contact Laser Lab-incharge Dr. J. T. Andrews.

Applied Photonics Research Laboratory

The major of experimental research in the department comes from the Applied Photonics Laboratory.Every faculty member contributes to the activities of Applied Photonics. The major areas of researchundergoing are:

• Optical Coherence Tomography
• Optical Tweezers
• Z-Scan and measurement of NLO properties
• Photolithography for MEMS/MOEMS structures
• Laser material processing (CO2 Laser)
• Second Harmonic Generation (using Nd:YAG laser)
• Micro-Photoluminescence Studies
• Digital holography for NDT of materials

Since 2006, 2 students have been awarded Ph.D. in this area, while two students are currently pursuingfor Ph.D. in the laboratory. About 40 students have worked for their Master’s Thesis/dissertation in thelaboratory.

Major facilities available for research in the laboratory includes:

• Optical spectrum analyser
• Monochromator (CVI)
• Nd:YAG Laser (cw 1W) and, (pulsed 1ps, 100uJ, 100MHz Rep)
• DPSS laser (2)
• CO2 laser (500W, cw, multibeam)
• Nitrogen Laser (pulsed, tuneable)
• High power semiconductor lasers (UV – Vis- IR)
• Optical Coherence Tomography setup (1 FO, 2 FS, 1 MEMS)
• Optical Streo / mettullurgical microscope with CCD/CMOS
• Stepper motors (12), PC driven
• Heaver Base Pneumatic Vibration Isolation Tables (10’x6’, 6’x4’, etc)
• Clean room
• Spin Coater, Magnetic Stirrer with heater
• UV Photolitho setup with 100W lamp (home made)
• Digital Strorage Oscilloscope (5)
• DAQ Cards (5GS/s, 2GS/s, 100MS/s etc)
• Software :LABVIEW recent version, COMSOL 5, Tanner EDA 14, Coventorware,OptiSYS, RSoft BeamPro, etc.
• Server (32GB RAM, 16 core processor, 3TB HDD)

List of publications and other details of the department may be

Nanoscience & Nanotechnology Research Laboratory

The major research activities of NST laboratory are growth and characterization of transparentconducting oxide (TCO) thin films of ZnO, NiO and MgO.

For the growth of TCO thin films, we have indigenously developed an aerosol assisted chemical vapordeposition (AA-CVD) system in nano science & technology laboratory of the department with theactive support from RRCAT, Indore. The motivation of the present work is focused on the use of a costeffective and scalable technique for the deposition of pure, doped and substituted TCO thin films.Therefore, we have explore the potentiality of a homemade AA-CVD system for the fabrication ofsingle and multilayer of pure and doped ZnO thin films.

Currently, around 6-8 PG (M. Sc. and M. Tech.) and one PhD students are working in the fields ofmaterial science and thin solid films. So far we have fabricated and characterized a number of AA-CVD grown thin films of Mgx Zn1-x O, Al:ZnO and multilayer thin films like M:ZnO/ZnO;M:ZnO/Al2O3 /ZnO; M:ZnO/NiO and M:ZnO/MgO/ZnO. The results have been published ininternational journals and presented in a number of national and international conferences. We havereceived the first prize for the best paper presentation in the research scholars meet held at UGC-DAE-CSR, Indore in December 2014.

So far, the physical characterization of pure, doped and substituted ZnO thin films leads to theaccomplishment to explore the potentiality of present AA-CVD system for the fabrication of TCO thinfilms. I-V characteristics of bi and tri-layer of AA-CVD grown thin films served satisfactory resultsmatched with the thin film diode and transistors properties, respectively. The observed characteristicproperties the ZnO based single and multilayer thin films were found to be appreciably good andmotivate us to enhance the quality of present work.

Currently, we are extending our efforts to perform the following tasks:

• In-suite measurement of thickness of deposition and the rotation of substrate, which will help us tocontrol the optical, structural, morphological and electrical properties of thin films.
• Fabrication and characterization of some alternative p-type TCO thin films like NiO, Ni:ZnO,AgCuO 2 , AlCuO 2 etc. These films may be further used for the fabrication of hetrojunction thin filmdiodes, transistors and solar cells.
• Doping of Ga, Mn, Ni etc. could also be possible in the AA-CVD grown ZnO thin films.
• Study the effect of metal semiconductor contacts over the properties of thin film structures.
• Fabrication and characterization of thin film transistor structure in different modes of operationslike top gate, double bottom gate, etc. Many parameters like channel width, length, resistance andtype of channel could be further analyzed. Moreover, effect of gate capacitance and temperaturevariations on the threshold voltage could also be studied.
• Study the effect of different buffer layer like MgO, SiO2 , Al2 O3 and Mgx Zn1-xO over the output andtransfer characteristics of fabricated thin film transistor could also be performed.

Faculty members actively engaged in the activities of this laboratory are Prof. P. K. Sen and
Mr. Kaushik Chaudhary.

The faculty members working on this area of research includes Mr. Gireesh Gaurav Soni and Mr.
Abhishek Tripathi.

Analog And Digital Electronics Laboratory

This laboratory is mainly used by M.Sc. (Applied Physics) students during their I and II semester
laboratory course. The laboratory has the following facilities:

• Microprocessor kits (5 sets)
• Digital Storage oscilloscope (2)
• Analog Oscilloscope (2)
• Various Electronics Experiments with Chasis, components, soldering station, etc.
• IC trainers (2 sets)

Properties Of Matter And Optics Laboratory

Following experiments are performed in properties of matter laboratory:

• Measurement of wavelength of light using Michelson Interferrometer
• Measurement of e/m by Helical path (Bush) method
• Measurement of Young’s modulus of rigidity of a bar using Newtons Rings methods
• Measurement of Absorption coefficient of material using constant deviation spectrometer