Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar (IOP), is an autonomous research
institution funded by the Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India and the Department
of Higher Education, Government of Orissa. It is a premier research institute carrying out
research in the frontier areas of physics and other allied areas. The Institute also acts
as a nodal centre for scientific manpower development with participation from universities
and educational institutions from all parts of the country. It has active research
programmes in theoretical and experimental areas of High Energy, Nuclear, Atomic,
Molecular and Condensed Matter Physics, and accelerator based basic and applied sciences.
The
experimental research activities in Institute of Physics are centered mainly around a
3 MV Pelletron Accelerator located in the Ion Beam Laboratory (IBL). The accelerator
provides low energy ion beams starting from protons and alphas to heavy ions. The types of
experiments that are being carried out in the ion beam laboratory are ion implantation,
channeling, Rutherford backscattering, micro-beam analysis and radiocarbon dating. Some
low energy nuclear physics experiments are also performed. The experimental facilities of
Accelerator Mass Spectrometry and micro-beam at the IBL are unique and first of its kind
in the country.
The Institute has
developed a very good laboratory for surface physics research. The facilities for research
in surface sciences include an ultra-high vacuum chamber on the beam line, a thin film
preparation unit, a molecular beam epitaxy setup, a transmission electron microscope and a
X-ray photo-electron spectrometer.
There is also an
active programme in cluster and nanomaterial science to produce and investigate the
properties of metallic and semiconductor cluster materials. 
The
Institute is actively collaborating in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collision experiments.
The Institute, in collaboration with a number of centres in India, has developed a highly
granular photon multiplicity detector. The detectors are being installed in BNL, USA and
CERN, Geneva and experiments are carried out in these laboratories to investigate quark
gluon plasma formation in heavy ion collisions.
The main components
of theoretical physics research at Institute of Physics are in the fields of high
energy, nuclear and condensed matter physics. The areas in which extensive work is carried
out are: (i) String theory and Quantum Gravity, (ii) Particle physics phenomenology, (iii)
Quantum mechanics, (iv) Relativistic heavy ion collisions, (v) neutron/quark stars, (vi)
exotic nuclei and their properties, (vii) nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, (viii)
superconductivity and magnetism, (ix) mesoscopic systems and clusters. The Institute has
active national and international collaborative research programs within these and other
theoretical areas.
Campus and
Facilities
Institute of Physics
campus is located at about six kms. from the centre of Bhubaneswar city. The Institute is
spread over an area of over fifty acres, and has a scenic environment with a large number
of trees and decorative plants. The main building houses the offices of the faculty,
research scholars, administrative staff and has a lecture theatre and seminar room where
seminars and colloquia are held on regular basis. Other buildings in the campus are the
ion beam laboratory, workshop, hot laboratory, cluster and nanostructure laboratory,
auditorium, library and computer centre. The Institute has a guest house for visitors and
on-campus housing for faculty and staff. The Institute also has facilities for a number of
indoor and outdoor games. There is a bank and medical facility with a dispensary inside
the campus of the Institute.
The Library
and Computer Centre of the Institute are open for 24 hours. The library subscribes to all
important physics journals and has books on advanced topics in physics and related areas.
Being a member of the DAE Consortium, the Institute members have electronic access to a
large number of online journals. The computing facilities include advanced computer
systems, campus-wide network, internet access, numerical, algebraic and graphics packages
and document preparation systems.
Hostel Facilities
The Institute has
sufficiently large hostel space to accommodate all predoctoral, doctoral and post-doctoral
scholars. Efforts are also being made to construct studio apartments for married scholars
and long term visitors. The mess attached to the hostel is run by the scholars themselves
so that they can have the food of their choice. There are a number of recreational
facilities, including indoor and outdoor games for the scholars.
Pre-Doctoral
(Post M.Sc.) Programme
Institute of Physics
runs a one year Predoctoral Program which is mandatory for doing Ph.D. at the Institute.
During the year, the scholars undergo course work in all branches of physics such as
quantum mechanics, statistical mechanics, field theory, numerical methods, mathematical
methods, many body theory, particle physics, nuclear physics, condensed matter physics,
experimental physics etc. The prime objective of the program is to train the scholars in
the advanced methodologies of experimental and theoretical physics. On completion, the
scholars are awarded a predoctoral diploma which is considered to be equivalent to the
M.Phil degree of the Universities of Orissa.
The candidates for
the Predoctoral course are selected on the basis of their performance in the JEST written
test and a viva-voce test conducted at IOP. The selected candidates are paid a monthly
fellowship of Rs. 12,000/- during the Predoctoral training period.
Doctoral Programme
On successful
completion of the Predoctoral program the scholars work towards their Ph.D. degree with
one of the faculty members. The doctoral scholars are awarded a monthly fellowship of
Rs. 12,000/- during the first year and Rs. 14,000/- in the following years. In addition, they
receive an annual contingency of Rs. 15,000/-. On completion of their work, the scholars may
submit their thesis to any of the universities of Orissa.
INSTITUTE OF PHYSICS
Sachivalaya Marg
Bhubaneswar 751 005
Tel: (0674) 2301058, 2301205
Fax: (0674) 2300142
Email: iop_jest@iopb.res.in
URL: http://www.iopb.res.in
