Doctor of Philosophy Programme (DPS)

PhD Advertisement for Autumn Semester 2019 (DPS)

Department of Physical Sciences (DPS)

Minimum Eligibility criteria:

 

Applications are invited from motivated candidates having Masters degree with at least 55% aggregate marks in any field of Physical Sciences for the Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) program. Final year post-graduate students who are yet to obtain their degree may also apply; however, they must complete the MSc/MS degree at the time of admission with the requisite 55% aggregate marks.

 

BS-MS passed students with CGPA score more than or equal to 8/10 from other IISERs are welcome to apply for our PhD program and are eligible for institute funding if selected through the interview process.

Additional or desirable background is necessary for some topics, and it is mentioned in parenthesis wherever applicable. People from other departments and interdisciplinary area are also taking students from Physics background and those research areas are mentioned here.

Students interested in applying in these areas are requested to apply in those departments directly (see the adjoining link). If by mistake they apply under the Dept. of Physical Sciences, then their applications will be cancelled.

Reservations for SC/ST/OBC candidates are applicable as per Government of India rules.

There are two channels of admission.

 

Channel 1: External funding

 

Apart from satisfying minimal eligibility criteria all candidates must have their own PhD fellowships, such as, UGC/CSIR-NET JRF, INSPIRE or any other equivalent fellowships. The list of openings for externally funded candidates is listed below:

 

  • Experimental:Following is the list of broad research area along with the topics (wherever applicable) in experimental physics where department is willing to take PhD students:
    1. Experimental condensed matter physics at extreme conditions of pressure:

      2. Research topic: (i) Phase transition studies of novel strongly correlated systems at extreme conditions of pressure and temperature. (ii) Study of structural, electronic, magnetic, thermodynamic and elastic properties of Earth materials under extreme conditions of temperature and pressure using quantum mechanical first principles density functional theory and experimental methods

    2. Phase Transitions, Spectroscopy and transport in high magnetic fields (pulsed field).
    3. Microlithography using microbubbles in thermo-optical tweezers (Research topic : (i) "Microlithography using microbubbles in optical tweezers and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics employing microbubbles", and (ii) "Effects of spin-orbit interaction of light in optical tweezers".)
    4. Experimental condensed matter physics, Electron spectroscopy, Nanoscience.
    5. Quantum Information Processing using NV centres in diamond.
    6. Topological Insulators, Majorana Fermions and Weyl Semi-metals.
    7. Nonlinear optical phenomena in semiconductors and other solid-state materials (Research topic : Study of nonlinear optical properties of various organic and inorganic materials.)
    8. Time resolved Nonlinear microscopy
    9. Experimental Condensed Matter Physics, Spintronics
    10. Molecular Physics (Research topics: (i) Molecular Dynamics in Electron Collisions with Isolated Molecules and (ii) Electron Collision Studies with Jet-cooled Molecules and Clusters.)

    11. Interdisciplinary research area:

      Application Information
      Experimental Chemistry (Research Area: Biochemistry / Microbiology) Select "PhD in Chemical Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form
      Click Here
  • Theoretical/Computational: : Following is the list of topics in theoretical and/or computational physics where department is willing to take PhD students:
    1. Non-linear dynamics (Background: MSc in Physics, Mathematics, Applied Physics, Applied Mathematics. Proficiency in programming is necessary.)
    2. Gravitational physics with quantum matter fields
    3. Complex Adaptive Systems and Network dynamics
    4. Soft Condensed Matter Physics, Polymer Physics
    5. High energy particle physics, collider phenomenology
    6. Theoretical condensed matter physics. (Research topics: Inhomogeneous quantum matter in correlated electronic systems, Topological states of correlated quantum matter)
    7. Quantum Computation and Quantum Information

    8. Interdisciplinary research area:

      Application Information
      Theoretical and computational Chemistry (Research Area: Atomic and Molecular Physics, Quantum mechanics, Quantum Information theory, Density functional theory) Select "PhD in Chemical Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form
      Click Here

    9. Interdisciplinary research area:

      Application Information
      Theoretical and computational Chemistry (Research Area: Molecular dynamics simulation to understand structure and dynamics in nanoporous materials, Metal-Organic framework and other complex systems, Solvation dynamics in Ionic Liquids.) Select "PhD in Chemical Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form
      Click Here

    10. Interdisciplinary research area:

      Application Information
      Research Area: cryo-Electron Microscopy, image processing, structural biology, molecular biology and biophysics) (Background: MSc Chemistry (minimum marks 55%) or MSc Physics (minimum marks 55%) or MSc in Life Sciences (minimum marks 55%) having specialization in Biophysics/Biochemistry/Biotechnology/Microbiology/ and having Chemistry/ Physics/ Mathematics as one of the pass subjects in BSc. Candidates need to have strong background in chemistry or physics. Select "PhD in Biological Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form

    •  

    Channel 2: Institute funding

     

    A limited number of Institute fellowships are available in the following areas, for students who do not have their own fellowship. For these fellowships the candidates must have qualified in one of the following examinations: GATE, JEST, NET-LS (apart from satisfying minimal eligibility criteria).

    (Experimental)
    1. Nonlinear dynamics involving electronics experiments (Background: MSc in Physics, Applied Physics, Electronics, or M.Tech in Electrical or Electronics engineering.)
    2. Microlithography using microbubbles in thermo-optical tweezers
      Research topic -
      (i)Microlithography using microbubbles in optical tweezers and non-equilibrium statistical mechanics employing microbubbles
      (ii)Effects of spin-orbit interaction of light in optical tweezers
    3. Studies on spin orbit interaction of light in optical tweezers
    4. Experimental condensed matter physics, Electron spectroscopy, Nanoscience
    5. Time-resolved and steady-state optical spectroscopy (Research Topic: Study of carrier dynamics in various semiconducting materials through time- resolved optical spectroscopy)
    6. Quantum Information Processing using NV centres in diamond (Background, M.Sc. Physics, desirable/preferable with special paper in Electronics, M.Tech in Electronics and Communication Engineering or Computer Science)
    (Theoretical/Computational)

    Interdisciplinary research area:

    Application Information
    Earth Sciences
    Research Topic: Physics and Chemistry of Earth Materials using Quantum Mechanical Simulations     		Select "PhD in Earth Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form
    Mathematical/theoretical biophysics.
    For students who are interested in theoretical modeling of biological phenomena in collaboration with experimentalists. In particular, the topics of research will include mathematical modeling of collective cell motion, stochastic gene expression, intercellular transport etc.
    Minimum Essential Qualification: MS/MSc/M.Tech degree in physics/applied mathematics/computer science with 55% marks or CGPA/CPI of 6.00/10. Experience of coding in C/C++/FORTRAN will be a plus point.)     		Select "PhD in Biological Sciences (Autumn 2019)" in the "Applying for" drop-down menu at the time of filling online application form

     

     

    * Please note that fulfilling the minimum essential criteria does not ensure that a candidate will be called for the interview. Additional short listing criteria might be set by the department based on academic records, experience and the research interest of the candidates.

    The profiles of the faculty members of the department can found in the following URL: http://www.iiserkol.ac.in/people/faculty/dps

    Applicants are strongly encouraged to send their academic CV and Statement of Purpose to the faculties of their choice (by email).

    Apply Online Important Dates General Instructions Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)