School of Physics, University of Hyderabad

03/10/2026

🌟GOLDEN JUBILEE FACULTY SEMINAR | SCHOOL OF PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF HYDERABAD🌟

As part of the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, we are pleased to invite you to the Golden Jubilee Faculty Seminar Series, where distinguished experts are invited to share their research, scientific perspectives, and insights into the field of physics.

The next seminar in this series will feature:

Speaker: Prof. Venu Gopal Achanta, Director, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (CSIR–NPL), New Delhi.
Title: Single photon metrology
Date: 05-10-2026
Time: 03:00 PM
Venue: Marie Curie Seminar Hall, School of Physics

We warmly invite faculty members, researchers, students, alumni, and friends of the School to join us for the seminar.

30/09/2026

🌟 School of Physics Faculty at ULTRAFASTLIGHT-2026 | Moscow, Russia

We delighted to share that two of our faculty Prof. Soma Venugopal Rao (School of Physics and DIA-CoE) and Prof. S.V.S. Nageswara Rao (CASEST, School of Physics) visited the Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia to deliver PLENARY and INVITED talks, respectively, at the Xth International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (ULTRAFASTLIGHT-2026), (https://ultrafastlight.ru/).

The conference was held from the 21st to 24th September, 2026. There were also academic discussions with the organizer, Prof. Sergey Kudryashov, an expert in the field of condensed matter, ultrafast optics, and spectroscopy.

Prof. Venugopal Rao’s talk was titled, “Emerging Horizons in Ultrafast Laser Processing of 2D Materials”

Prof. Nageswara Rao’s talk was titled, “Ultrafast Laser Ablation of Semiconductors: A Material Perspective”

👏 We congratulate our faculty members on their participation in this distinguished international event.

⚛ Xth International Conference on Ultrafast Optical Science (ULTRAFASTLIGHT-2026)
📍 Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

14/09/2026

🌟ALUMNI ACHIEVEMENT🌟
A Moment of Pride for the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad!

As we celebrate the 50th year of the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, it gives us immense pleasure and pride to share a remarkable achievement by two of our distinguished alumni.

We are proud to congratulate two alumni of the School of Physics who have been elected Fellows of the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), one of the oldest scientific academies in the country, established in 1930.

Prof. M. S. Santhanam, an alumnus of the M.Sc. Physics (1990–1992) batch, is currently a Professor in the Department of Physics at IISER Pune.

Prof. Achanta Venu Gopal, an alumnus of the M.Sc. Physics (1992–1994) batch, is currently serving as Director, CSIR–National Physical Laboratory (NPL), New Delhi, on lien from TIFR, Mumbai.

This is indeed a moment of great pride for the entire School of Physics, and it is especially meaningful as we mark our 50th anniversary. The recognition of two of our alumni by one of India's premier scientific academies is a wonderful testament to the academic foundation and legacy of our School.

Congratulations to Prof. M. S. Santhanam and Prof. Achanta Venu Gopal on this well-deserved recognition!

50 Years of Excellence | Inspiring Science | Shaping the Future

05/09/2026

🌟Happy Teachers’ Day! 🌟

28/08/2026

https://youtu.be/UI8C3DbzqGk?si=ZxfTAwQBUbU8d6F-

For link and references, see episode 129 here: https://historyofsci...

22/08/2026

🔬 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT | School of Physics, University of Hyderabad

SUPER-BLACK STAINLESS STEEL

Researchers at the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, have developed super-black stainless-steel surfaces with exceptionally low broadband reflectivity using femtosecond-laser texturing followed by controlled chemical oxidation.

This research, supported by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), is aimed at developing advanced surfaces for stray-light suppression in optical payloads used in space missions, where minimising unwanted reflections is critical for high-precision imaging and sensing. The developed surfaces achieve ~99.3% absorption in the UV–visible region, while also exhibiting enhanced photothermal conversion and superhydrophobicity. Beyond space applications, these robust, lightweight, coating-free black surfaces have significant potential for defence and other strategic applications, opening new avenues for technology development and future research in advanced laser-engineered functional surfaces.

The work was carried out by Nitin Chaudhary and Prof. Sri Ram G. Naraharisetty at the Femtosecond Laser Lab, School of Physics.

Publication: N. Chaudhary and S. R. G. Naraharisetty, “Femtosecond laser-induced nanoscale texturing for super-black stainless-steel surfaces,” Journal of Physics: Photonics 8, 025030 (2026). DOI: 10.1088/2515-7647/ae6f59.

🔗 Read more about this research: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/ae6f59

22/08/2026

🔬 RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT | School of Physics, University of Hyderabad

Engineering Carrier Dynamics in 2D materials

Researchers at the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, have used mid-infrared transient absorption spectroscopy to uncover how controlled Vanadium doping can regulate the relaxation of photoexcited carriers in monolayer MoS₂, an important two-dimensional semiconductor for next-generation optoelectronic technologies.

The phenomenon can be understood through a simple traffic analogy: in pristine MoS₂, excited carriers are like cars travelling through a single road—as the number of cars increases, the available defect pathways become congested or saturated, causing the carrier relaxation time to increase. Systematic incorporation of Vanadium creates additional defect-assisted relaxation pathways, analogous to opening multiple roads to the same destination. As a result, even when the number of excited carriers increases substantially, the relaxation time remains nearly unchanged. This discovery provides direct experimental evidence that Vanadium doping prevents saturation of defect states and enables controlled engineering of carrier dynamics in two-dimensional materials, offering new possibilities for designing high-performance optoelectronic and quantum devices.

The work was carried out by Shilpa Mangalassery, Dipak Maity, Bedanta K. Deka, Tharangattu N. Narayanan and Prof. Sri Ram G. Naraharisetty from the University of Hyderabad and TIFR Hyderabad.

Publication: S. Mangalassery, D. Maity, B. K. Deka, T. N. Narayanan and S. R. G. Naraharisetty, “Mid-IR probing unveils vanadium doping-induced unsaturation of defect states in monolayer MoS₂,” npj 2D Materials and Applications 10, 14 (2026). DOI: 10.1038/s41699-025-00652-3.

🔗 Read more about this research: https://doi.org/10.1088/2515-7647/ae6f59

17/08/2026

🏆Research Achievement | Best Poster Award at EMPO 2026
We are delighted to share that Mr. Bedanta Kumar Deka, PhD Scholar at the School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, has received the “Best Poster Award” at the National Conference on Emerging Materials for Next Generation Photonics and Optoelectronics (EMPO 2026), organised by the Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati.

A Prime Minister’s Research Fellowship (PMRF) awardee, Mr. Deka is pursuing his doctoral research in the Femtosecond Laser Lab under the supervision of Prof. N. Sri Ram Gopal. Along with senior PhD scholar Ms. Shilpa Mangalassery, he is investigating ultrafast carrier dynamics and defect-mediated processes in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) using mid-infrared (mid-IR) laser pulses.

The group’s research focuses on understanding the role of defect states in carrier recombination and transport in materials such as MoS₂. Their studies have demonstrated that exciton dynamics and lifetimes can be tuned through defect engineering, including doping and annealing, as well as heterostructure formation. This work has been published in leading journals, including npj 2D Materials and Applications.

A key facility supporting this research is the home-built mid-IR transient absorption spectroscopy (TAS) system developed at the Femtosecond Laser Lab. The facility is unique in the country and among a very limited number of such facilities worldwide, providing specialised capabilities to probe defect states and intraband transitions in 2D materials. It offers pump tunability from 400–1600 nm and probe tunability from 2–8 μm.

Together with the home-built visible TAS facility developed in the same laboratory, the platform enables comprehensive investigations of ultrafast carrier generation, relaxation, trapping, recombination, and intraband dynamics in emerging 2D quantum materials.

The award recognises the quality of this research and highlights the growing contribution of the University of Hyderabad in ultrafast spectroscopy, two-dimensional materials, and next-generation photonic and optoelectronic research.

👏Congratulations to Mr. Bedanta Kumar Deka, Prof. N. Sri Ram Gopal, Ms. Shilpa Mangalassery, and the entire team!

11/08/2026

DIA-CoE Terahertz Research Group Reveals Ultrafast Dielectric Relaxation Dynamics of Newly Synthesized ACR-ENP Energetic Plasticizers Using THz-TDS
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The Terahertz (THz) Research Group of the DRDO Industry Academia–Centre of Excellence (DIA-CoE), ACRHEM, School of Physics, University of Hyderabad, has successfully demonstrated the dielectric relaxation dynamics and optical properties of a newly developed series of green-synthesized fluoro-nitrato energetic plasticizers using reflection-mode Terahertz Time-Domain Spectroscopy (THz-TDS).
Energetic plasticizers play an important role in solid rocket propellants used in missile propulsion systems. They are incorporated into polymeric binder systems to combine the functions of conventional plasticizers with an additional contribution to the energetic performance of the propellant. The reported energetic plasticizers were synthesized for the first time at ACRHEM, University of Hyderabad.
The THz spectroscopy group, led by Senior Professor Anil Kumar Chaudhary and comprising Dr. Chandan Ghorui (PMRF Fellow), in collaboration with Dr. Balaka Barkakaty, Dr. Harish Kumar Keerthi, and Dr. S. C. Bhattacharyya of DIA-CoE (ACRHEM), has jointly reported, for the first time, a self-referenced reflection-mode THz-TDS approach for investigating the optical constants and ultrafast dielectric relaxation behaviour of newly synthesized ACR-ENP energetic plasticizers and their polymer composites over the 0.1–2.5 THz frequency range.
The study establishes a direct relationship between molecular design, polymer blending, and terahertz dielectric response, providing an important pathway toward the development of next-generation energetic plasticizers for applications in terahertz sensing, defence technologies, The research has been published in the prestigious Journal of Physical Chemistry C (American Chemical Society): "Probing Dielectric Relaxation in Green-Synthesized Fluoro-Nitrato Energetic Plasticizers via Self-Referenced THz Reflection Spectroscopy," Journal of Physical Chemistry C, 2026, 130, 10376–10389. DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.6c02207.
Prof. Chaudhary, along with Dr. Nagarju Menchu, has also developed a novel technique for “De-embedding Intrinsic Terahertz Spectral Signatures of RDX, TNT, and CL-20 from Granular Soil Matrices Using Effective Medium Theory.” The work has been published in Spectrochimica Acta Part A: Molecular and Biomolecular Spectroscopy, Vol. 363, Part 2, Article 128434 (2026), DOI: 10.1016/j.saa.2026.128434 (published online ahead of print). University of Hyderabad

31/07/2026

Dr. Venugopal Rao Soma has been appointed as a topical editor of the journal Applied Optics of Optica (formerly OSA). Prior to this he has served as an Associate Editor for Optics Letters (Optica) for 6 years, and RSC Advances for 10 years. He is presently an Associated Editor for the journals Opto-Electronic Advances (CLP), Frontiers (Optics & Photonics), and is an editorial board member of Defence Science Journal, India.
https://opg.optica.org/content/journal/about/item/ao/
Applied Optics, established in 1962, publishes in-depth peer-reviewed content about applications-centered research in optics covering research areas of optical technology, photonics, lasers, sensing, environmental optics, and information processing. of Hyderabad