Annual Report 2007-2008

DST Scientific Institutions & Professional Academies

Introduction

The department has been supporting 17 autonomous institutions in specific frontline aeras of science & technology to continuously pursue research to keep up with the pace of R & D at global level. These institutions have been instrumental in producing trained manpower and develop several application areas of importance to the nation, in a vide spectrum of scientific and engineering disciplines. Based on the research activities, the institutions could be broadly classified into 6 major groups viz. Institutions focusing on (a) Outer Space Events, (b) Global History & Health, (c) Molecule to Material Science, (d) Science Applications for Well Being, (e) Technology Forecasting, and (f) Science Popularisation.

Support is also being extended to 5 professional societies, who are actively striving to bring into focus some of the scientific issues of national and global importance requiring scientific inquiry and in, awareness creation, information dissemination, man-power development. Academies through various programmes continued excellent work in capacity building in science & technology.

Highlights of the the research contributions made by these institutions/ professional societies during the year are reported as under:

Outer Space Events

Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (Aries), Nainital

The primary objective of ARIES is to provide optical observing facilities to carry out research in the front-line areas of Astronomy & Astrophysics and Atmospheric Sciences. The main research interests are in solar, planetary, stellar, galactic and extra-galactic astronomy including stellar variabilities, star clusters, nearby galaxies, quasars, and transient events like supernovae and highly energetic gamma-ray bursts, study of aerosols, airglow emissions, mesosphere - lower thermospheric regions, and various coupling processes between different atmospheric regions of the Earth. The observations carried out at ARIES are well recognized internationally. The longitude of ARIES (79o East) locates it almost in the middle of about a 180-degree wide longitude band having modern astronomical facilities between Canary Islands (20o West) and Eastern Australia (157o East). The observations which are, therefore, not possible from Canary Islands or Australia due to day light can be obtained from ARIES. Consequently, unique contributions have been made to many areas of astronomical research, particularly those involving time critical phenomena.

ARIES presently hosts three optical telescopes of apertures 15-cm, 56-cm and 104-cm. The 104-cm telescope is used for most of the optical observations. It is equipped with 2k x 2k, and 1k x 1k liquid N2 cooled CCD cameras, fast photometer, spectrophotometer, and standard astronomical filters. The telescope uses a SBIG ST-4 camera for auto-guiding through an auxiliary 20-cm telescope. The Institute has two 15-cm telescopes for solar observations.

The Institute continued to make important scientific contributions in different front-line problems of astrophysics and atmospheric sciences. Studies of fundamental nature were conducted in the areas of aerosols, solar activities, variable stars, star clusters, gamma-ray burst and supernova, extragalactic astronomy etc. The major activities carried out during the period under review are summarized below:

• The 3.6-meter new technology Devasthal optical telescope project was started after ARIES entered into an agreement with Advanced Mechanical and Optical Systems (AMOS), Belgium for the design, manufacturing, integration, testing, supply and installation of the telescope at Devasthal. The project has both national and international participation. Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai are also participating in the Project by providing back end modern instruments for the telescope, namely high resolution spectrograph by IIA and nearinfrared imager cum spectrograph by TIFR. Belgium and Russia are participating in the project under bilateral collaborative programmes of their respective countries with India in the area of Science & Technology.
• ARIES contracted out the design and fabrication of the 130-cm optical telescope (Figure 10.4 a&b) as a turn-key project to DFM Engineering Inc., Longmont, Colorado, USA in March 2006. The telescope is expected to be delivered by middle of 2008.
• Thirty eight research papers were published/accepted in standard refereed journals and another four were published as circulars and conference proceedings. Two Ph.D. degrees were awarded and one Ph.D. thesis was submitted. ARIES signed MOU with Kumaun University, Nainital and IIT, Roorkee to increase academic/technical interactions between the institutions. Highlights of the scientific results are listed below:

• Progress in the ongoing 84-cm Backscatter LIDAR and 50-cm Schmidt telescope is satisfactory. A contract for the civil construction of the LIDAR house was awarded while design of the Schmidt telescope was finalized.

Figure 10.1 (a) A sketch of 1.3-meter telescope at Devasthal.	Figure 10.1 (b) Fork and base of 1.3-m telescope as manufactured at DFM.

Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA), Bangalore

The institute is primarily devoted to basic research, instrumentation and training in astronomy, astrophysics, and related physical sciences. The institute also provides training facilities for various programmes such as: (i) vigorous graduate studies program leading to PhD degree, (ii) a summer students’ program, (iii) trainee programmes for students of science and engineering, and (iv) a visiting students’ program for students of others research institutions and universities.

At present, the institute has facilities spread over six places: Bangalore, Hosakote, Kodaikanal, Kavalur, Hanle, and Gauribidanur. The Kavalur Observatory, known as Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO), has an array of telescopes of various apertures. The optics division of the institute has developed 2.34 meter primary mirror, based on which the Vainu Bappu telescope is built indigenously. IIA has also installed remote controlled 2 meter Himalayan Chandra Telescope, at Hanle in Ladakh, an altitude of 4240 meters, which is being operated from its Hosakote campus via a dedicated satellite link.

High Altitude Gamma Ray (HAGAR) telescope array was installed at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle and site characterisation work for the National Large Solar Telescope (NLST) was initiated. HAGAR is now in its commissioning phase. With the severe Ladakh winter on its way out, work has commenced on laying the cables connecting the seven telescope units. The most promising regions for the NLST site appear to be in the high mountain desert of Ladakh. The existence of a fully functioning observatory at Hanle, and the support facility created at Leh by the Institute, are a major advantage in the reconnaissance process for the site characterisation work.

Turning to space related programmes, all the subsystems of the ultraviolet imaging telescope (UVIT), a payload on the first dedicated Indian space astronomy mission ASTROSAT, have reached the detailed design stage. Detector modules have been sent for integration and the engineering model of the high voltage supplies for these modules is nearing completion. The mirrors for the telescopes were partly figured and the design of the structure, in combination with the satellite, has been checked. The MGK Menon space sciences laboratory, equipped with a state-of-the-art clean room facility for assembly, testing and calibration of the payload is almost ready. The TAUVEX mission - an Indo-Israeli collaboration to observe the ultraviolet sky - is expected to be launched as part of the next GSLV mission (GSAT-4) in mid-2008. Software necessary to bring the satellite data to a format usable by individual scientists is being developed and this pipeline is complete and under rigorous testing.

The institute organised: YAM-2007, the tenth Young Astronomers’ Meet (January 3-5, 2007); workshops on Physics and Astrophysics of Dust (February 2007). A new lecture series was instituted by IIA, named after the Founder-Director, M K Vainu Bappu. The Vainu Bappu Memorial Lecture is proposed to be given each year by an eminent astrophysicist on a topic of broad interest. The first of this series was delivered by Professor E. N. Parker of the University of Chicago at IIA on January 4, 2007, on it The Sun, Space, Cosmic Rays & Climate. He gave a broadbrush view of the physical properties of the Sun and ofits interaction with the interplanetary space environment and its effect on the terrestrial climate. The eighteenth IIA bicentennial commemorative public lecture, held on March 2, 2007, was delivered by Professor Obaid Siddiqi, on Biology of Learning and Memory.

In solar physics, research on the dynamics of the magnetized chromosphere, viscosity in Alfv’en waves, magnetic nature of coronal loops, energetics of coronal mass ejections, molecular lines in sunspots, coronal holes, detection of waves by statistical methods in the solar atmosphere were carried out. Studies of the diameter of the sun, solar irradiance, solar cycle effects on weather, radio observations of CMEs, global radio flux variations, and plasma processes in the sun were among the investigations carried out towards understanding the sun. Between 2007 and 2008, Uranus passes through one of the nodes of its orbit on its equatorial plane for the first time since 1966. These mutual events of Uranian satellites will be observed after a span of forty years. Solar effects on the ionosphere would help to understand the interplanetary and near Earth environments.

Optical astronomers working in stellar and galactic astronomy are carrying out observations with the Institute’s telescopes located at the Vainu Bappu Observatory (VBO), Kavalur and the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Hanle, Ladakh. The remotely controlled 2 m telescope at Hanle is being widely used by astronomers from various institutes from India and abroad. In observational astronomy, institute scientists have focussed their attention on star formation in the region of the open cluster, Cygnus, and NGC 1084, evolution of circumstellar disks in intermediate mass young stars, light variability of T Tauri stars, Hydrogen deficient stars, Fluorine abundances in evolved stars, stellar parameters, chemical composition of type II Cepheids, metal-poor stars, survey of Li-rich K giant stars, close binary stars, star clusters, variability of Na I lines in clouds, ISM-Planetary nebulae, search for dwarf stars, exploding stars such as novae and supernovae. Studies on extragalactic objects such as Seyferts and quasars are also being carried out. A dynamical model of the narrow-line region in NGC 1068 has been developed.

The theoretical astrophysical group is engaged in pursuing research on various problems such as exact non-linear solutions for Hall-Alfv’en wave in a uniformly rotating plasma, Magneto-rotational instabilities in Keplerian discs and effect of hybrid viscosity in two temperature discs, general treatment of Hanle- Zeeman redistribution for radiation scattering in magnetic fields and analysis of scattering polarisation, core structures for pulsar emission beam and relation between geometry of emission region and Stoke’s parameter, numerical studies on the effect of changing impact parameters in galaxy collisions, and the effect of intergalactic medium on quasar motion in steady-state theory. The physics group is engaged in deriving rubidium and caesium electric dipole moments, oscillator strengths of ions of astrophysical importance. Other topics include effects of higher body excitations in relativistic coupled cluster calculations and ab initio calculations to characterise low lying states of selected isomers, isoscalar M1 contribution to deuteron photodisintegration and neutron polarisation.

The Vainu Bappu telescope, VBO, Kavalur, as well as the remote controlled Himalayan Chandra Telescope (HCT), Hanle, Ladakh, are extensively being used by astronomers from within the country and abroad. A high speed CCD photometer for use at HCT has been installed as well. Honourable members of the Parliamentary Committee on Science & Technology, Environment & Forests visited the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO), Leh during June 10-14, 2006.

A 1.3-m telescope for the Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur is being designed and fabricated by DFM, U.S.A. and a differential image motion monitoring (DIMM) telescope for continuous measurements on the sky is nearly ready at the same workshop. Both these equipment are expected to be delivered soon. A detailed concept design for the proposed Hanle Echelle Spectro-Polarimeter (HESP) is being developed by the Anglo-Australian Observatory (AAO).

The Institute has a vibrant graduate studies programme with more than twenty five students. The Institute hosts a variety of programmes for man-power development by providing education in science and technology through a variety of programmes: (i) research and engineer trainee programme, (ii) projects as part of academic course work, (iii) visits of students and staff from other institutions, and (iv) summer project student programme. Besides the regular Summer Students’ Programme, the Institute has also joined from this year onwards the IRES or International Research Experience for US Graduate Students Programme which is sponsored by the US National Science Foundation’s (NSF) Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE). For the next three years, IIA will host American graduate students, exposing them to a vibrant research atmosphere in a premier Indian R & D institution. This year four students will spend six weeks carrying out research projects with IIA mentors.

Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore

The main fields of research have been and continue to be, Theoretical Physics, Light and Matter Physics, Soft Condensed Matter and Astronomy & Astrophysics.

The Astronomy and Astrophysics Group continued to work in areas like: Cosmology and Structure Formation, Extragalactic Astronomy, Neutron Stars and Pulsars, the Galaxy and Interstellar Medium, Surveys, Topological Phase, Instrumentation and Signal Processing etc. This group is also pursuing collaborative programmes with the Indian Space Research Organisation and is involved in an international project “Murchison Wide-field Array (MWA)” led by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) with several other partner institutions in the USA and Australia.

The Light and Matter Physics group continued its work in Light Scattering, Ultrafast and Non-Linear Optics, BEC, Laser Cooling and Trapping of Atoms with basic science research approach as against competitive technology development approach. The Soft Condensed Matter group is involved in frontier research areas of Liquid Crystals-synthesis, structure, Phase behavior and physical properties and displays, Amphiphilic Systems-Surface Science and Nano-composites, Biological Physics, etc.

The Theoretical Physics Group worked on research topics in the areas of Condensed Matter and Statistical Physics, Gravitation, Optics and Physics in Biology. Dr. Sandeep Kumar and his colleagues have recently synthesized and characterized new liquid crystalline dimmers, which are molecules consisting of two identical subunits. Prof. Ruckmongathan and his colleagues have developed new techniques for displaying gray shades in liquid crystal displays. The techniques are being patented.

Prof. Joseph Sameul and Dr. Supurna Sinha have put forward a novel idea in a publication in Physical Review Letters that has taken this quantum gravity based theory from the minds of theoretical physicists to laboratories. The Institute has 13 Collaborative & Technoogy Development Projects.

Global History & Health

Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany (BSIP), Lucknow

The research activities at BSIP focused on five major Thrust Areas— 1) Precambrian biotic events, 2) Gondwana floristics, palaeoclimate and palaeoecology: relevance to breakup of Gondwanaland, 3) Biopetrology of coals and its relevance to coal bed methane, 4) Palaeobiology of Phanerozoic Basins and its bearing on hydrocarbon potential, and 5) Quaternary vegetation, eustatic sea level changes, global climate change and anthropogenic impact, besides certain special activities. The main research work remained concerned with the understanding of plant evolution through geological time, and their distribution in space. Emphasis had been laid to derive knowledge about the diversification of Precambrian life; developing Gondwana and Tertiary mega- and microfossils database for biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironment; coal/ lignite quality; and to understand the interaction between the climate and vegetational change in the Quaternary period. Some of the important research contributions and discoveries of the Institute could be summarized as follows:

• In search of Precambrian life, 3 taxa of Cyanobacteria assignable to Chroococcales and Oscillatoriales were recovered for the first time from the cherts of Nagod Limestone Formation, Bhander Group of Vindhyans (~650 Ma old).
  
• Plant fossils from different Gondwana sequences were evaluated in relation to floristic evolution and palaeoecology of the respective regions. An equisetalean genus Sakoarota, known from Madagaskar, has been reported for the first time from the Indian Gondwana (from Korba Coalfield, Chhattisgarh). Lycopsid axes showing fertile structures in attachment were discovered for the first time in the Lower Gondwana successions of India (from Satpura Basin).
• Coal-bearing Gondwana sequences of Birbhum, Rajmahal, Sohagpur, Ib-river, and Wardha-Godavari valley coalfields were analysed for biostratigraphic dating and correlations with help of palynological evidences. Efforts were also made for refinement of marker taxa and resolution of palynozones.
• Plant remains (wood, leaves and fruit) were investigated from different Tertiary beds of the country and utilized in interpreting floristics, palaeoecology, and phytogeography of the regions. The fossil wood assemblage from Gujarat indicates existence of moist tropical conditions in the area during Plio- Pleistocene time as compared to the drier conditions of Bhavnagar today. Well preserved fruit belonging to Nypa (Arecaceae) from the Disang sediments of Wokha district (Nagaland) indicates coastal environment in the region during Miocene times.
• Palynoflora from Tertiary sequences of Rajasthan, Kachchh, north-east India, K-G basin, etc. were investigated for stratigraphic zonation and correlation. Two kinds of fossil aquatic fungi of the ingoldiantype are reported for the first time from the Miocene sediments (Dulte Formation) of Bhuban subgroup, Mizoram.
• Examined the economic suitability and CBM potentiality of certain Gondwana coals from Rajmahal, Tatapani-Ramkola and Wardha basins, and Tertiary lignite from Neyveli by studying the organic composition and rank. High amount of hydrogen-rich macerals (liptinite+perhydrous vitrinite) in Rajmahal coals render them suitable for hydrogenation.
• Diverse and dateable nannofossil assemblages recovered from the upper part of the Chari Formation (Kutch) suggests existence of a seaway in the form of an arm of the Tethyan Sea between Arabia-Africa and in the western part of India.
• Depositional history of Lakadong Sandstone (Late Palaeocene-Early Eocene) of Khasi Hills, Meghalaya was reconstructed based on combined study of palynology, palynofacies and sedimentology. Five parasequences have been identified within the transgressive systems tract during Late Thanetian at the time of deposition of sandstone unit in this region. Each progressive progradational parasequence shows gradual increase in marine influence.
• Pollen analyses from Quaternary sediments from Shahdol district (MP), Bhagwanpur (Orissa), Kullu District (HP), Kumaun Himalaya, Godavari Delta and Forest Divisions of Lower & Upper Assam helped in depicting Quaternary vegetation and palaeoclimatic reconstructions. Significant phases of dry and moist climate with fluctuating monsoon precipitation have been related to changing vegetational scenario.
• Palynological succession from Nilarevu river (opening in Bay of Bengal) provided very good evidences of abrupt marine events like the recent Tsunami event and cyclicity of ecological changes with respect to climate and marine influx.
• Mapping and selection of key areas for polar sediment traps in dry palaeo lake beds distributed in Schirmacher Oasis was done during recent past Indian Antarctica Expeditions and sampled for multiproxy data generation. Evidences from the presence of >1 m thick sedimentary fill in the oasis predict that the oasis must have been a host of big lake systems in the recent past.
• Analysed archaeobotanical samples from an early lake-side settlement at Lahuradewa datable to c.4000-3200 yrs. BP (Chalcolithic). The evidence revealed an advanced state of agriculture.
• Studied the tree-ring samples of Himalayan cedar from different river basins in western Himalaya to understand the basinal specificity in precipitation, suggesting that the cool and wet climatic extremes are highly basin specific as compared to hot and dry ones. Tree-ring samples of Pinus gerardiana, a dry temperate conifer from the two sites of the Himachal Pradesh were also analyzed to understand its dendroclimatic potentiality.

Multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research activities with Institutions in India and abroad were continued in several spheres. Scientists continued working in close unision with WIHG (Dehradun), DSI (Visakhapatnam), NIO and NCAOR (Goa), GSI, ONGC, Department of Geosciences, Princeton University (USA), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (Panama); Institute of Botany, Beijing, Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The academic activities of the Institute included publication of 105 research papers, 104 conference/symposia abstracts, and 25 reports/articles, besides 44 research papers accepted for publication. Two scientists visited abroad (UK & Germany) under INSA Exchange Programme. Seventy-eight scientific papers were presented in various National and International Meetings. Eight scientists participated in International Conferences abroad (held in China, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain and USA). Twenty-five scientists and one Technical Personnel were deputed to various conferences/seminars held within the country. Twentyseven scientists and one Administrative Officer were deputed for attending various training programs and study/consultancy visits. Two scientists participated in the 26th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica, and 2 are going to participate in the forthcoming 27th Expedition. This year 3 scientists of the Institute are selected to visit abroad (Czech Republic, Poland and UK) under INSA Exchange Programme for study.

The Institute gifted fossil specimens to several educational institutions in the country. The researchers from other organizations made use of the Library and Herbarium facilities. Herbarium has been enriched with a variety of plant specimens collected from Central India. Library is disseminating the information about the latest acquisition of Palaeobotanical literature through a bi-monthly bulletin— the ‘Current Awareness Service’ and is well connected through Internet. Institute journal “The Palaeobotanist” Volume 56 and Newsletter (November-2007) were published. The Institute renders consultancy services to various organizations in Plant Fossil, Palynology, Coal Petrology, Carbon Dating and SEM facility.

INDIAN INSTITUTE OF GEOMAGNETISM (IIG), NAVI MUMBAI

The Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG) is devoted to basic and applied research in Geomagnetism and allied areas of Atmospheric and Space Plasma Physics. A large part of the Institute’s research activities is based on geomagnetic, aeronomy, and other observations made at its magnetic observatories and its Equatorial Geophysical Research Laboratory (EGRL) at Tirunelveli, as well as on data collected during geophysical surveys in different parts of India. A new center of IIG, the Dr. K. S. Krishnan Geomagnetic Research Laboratory (KSKGRL) at Allahabad became functional in July 2007. Besides a palaeomagnetic laboratory and regular geomagnetic observations, other experiments that are being carried out at KSKGRL
include search coil measurements of geomagnetic pulsations, observation of VLF whistler waves, sounding the ionosphere using an ionosonde, spaced receiver recording of ionospheric scintillations, airglow, and GPS observations.

Observatories and Data Analysis

The institute operates ten modern magnetic observatories in the country, including a new observatory at Rajkot, where digital recording of the full complement of geomagnetic data commenced in July 2007. IIG maintains one of the seven World Data Centers (WDCs) for Geomagnetism at Colaba. This year steps were taken to enable users of Indian magnetic data to download hourly data from the WDC Mumbai website. At present 50 users, Indian and foreign, from Universities and research institutes, are registered at the website.

High time resolution digital magnetic records from equatorial and low latitude stations have been analysed along with available multi-satellite observations of solar wind plasma and interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) parameters to assess the role of these parameters in controlling the generation and development of various types of magnetic storms that occurred during solar cycle 23.

Search-coil magnetometers deployed at Allahabad and Shillong magnetic observatory have recorded Pc1 type of pulsations in the geomagnetic field, which are not common at these latitudes (Figure 10.2). These oscillations were accompanied by simultaneous enhancement in the power of Schumann resonance, thereby confirming that they were induced by enhanced lightening activity. Pi2 pulsations observed at these low latitudes were found to be strong indicators of substorm onset, with sustained southward IMF and increased solar-wind dynamic pressure providing the most favourable condition for substorm onset.

Figure 10.2: Pulsations in geomagnetic field components recorded at Shillong on August 31, 2006 using search coil magnetometer, and corresponding dynamic spectra

In a collaborative project with STAR Laboratory, Stanford University, USA, three VLF receivers have been deployed at Allahabad, Nainital and Varanasi, to monitor electromagnetic waves of frequencies in ELF/VLF range, for quantitative analysis of electromagnetic phenomenon in the ionosphere and magnetosphere such as radio atmospherics, whistlers, lightning induced electron precipitation, cosmic gammaray flares, terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, sprites, solar flares, etc.

Antarctic Studies

The institute participated in the XXVI Indian Antarctic Expedition by conducting multi-technique experiments at Maitri to study the geophysical environment in this sub-auroral region. Geomagnetic variations as well as the total magnetic field are being recorded continuously. Air-Earth current monitor, electric field mill, and conductivity meter are also operated to understand the global electric circuit. A digital fluxgate magnetometer and a dual frequency GPS receiver were installed at the new Indian station at Larsemann Hills and a ground magnetic survey was conducted to prepare an anomaly map of this area.

Upper Atmospheric Sciences

Spatial and temporal variability of atmospheric tides, which are closely related with ionospheric current systems, have been studied extensively using medium frequency (MF) spaced antenna radar at Tirunelveli. Longitudinal variability of the diurnal tide in the tropical mesopause region has been brought out using radar data from Tirunelveli and three other sites: Cariri (Brazil), Ascension Island, and Pameungpeuk (Indonesia). The atmospheric science community in India conducted a CAWSES-India tidal campaign, in which radar and rocket probed the middle atmosphere over low latitudes, to explore the relationship between short-term variabilities of diurnal tides and variations in the source region. Observations of prominent gravity wave motions in the upper mesosphere using an all-sky airglow imager at Tirunelveli, complemented with MF radar data on winds have yielded several intrinsic wave parameters. Regular monitoring of various nightglow emissions were continued from Kolhapur and Panhala on clear and moonless nights using stateof-the-art all-sky imager, scanning and tilting photometers, in order to study the dynamics of the mesosphere and the F-region of the ionosphere.

With several electrical sensors providing information on the atmospheric electrical parameters close to the surface of the Earth, which are essential components of the Global Electric Circuit, an extensive analysis has been recently performed to relate the variabilities of the air-Earth current measured with long-wire and plate antenna systems, vertical potential gradient derived from passive antenna measurements, and vertical electric field recorded by the field mill, with the local meteorological weather parameters such as relative humidity and wind direction and speed.

The nighttime equatorial ionospheric phenomena of equatorial plasma bubble (EPB) and equatorial spread F (ESF) are important components of “Space Weather” since they have detrimental effects on communication and navigation systems such as the Global Positioning System (GPS). EPBs generated exclusively as a result of magnetic activity have been identified from ionospheric scintillation observations using a new technique, and a ten-year database of scintillation observations has been used to study the nature of the low-latitude ionospheric response to magnetic storms. The GPS has become a very useful tool to study the Earth’s ionosphere. Temporal and spatial variability of Total Electron Content (TEC) derived from GPS observations and GPS L band scintillations during the onset of ESF as recorded by simultaneous observations with the Indian MST radar located at Gadanki have been investigated to understand the evolution of plasma instabilities responsible for the generation of EPBs and ESF. The ionosonde installed at EGRL, Tirunelveli, showed the presence of an additional F3 layer in the equatorial ionosphere (Figure 10.3).

Figure 10.3: Ionogram depicting F3-layer at Tirunelveli, recorded on June 6, 2007 at 1000 Hrs IST

In the area of theoretical studies, linear and non-linear growth of various plasma waves and instabilities in the Earth’s magnetosphere were investigated. In a study of ring current instabilities driven by energetic protons and oxygen ions during a magnetic storm, it was found that the quasi-electrostatic waves propagating obliquely to the geomagnetic field and having frequencies greater than the proton cyclotron frequency became unstable due to pressure anisotropy of the energetic proton and oxygen ions. The effects of different anisotropic indices of proton and oxygen ions on the growth rate of the excited modes were studied for different plasma compositions. These instabilities were found to become most prominent during intense magnetic storms.

Solid Earth Geomagnetism

Magnetotelluric investigations over the Shillong plateau and lower Brahmaputra sediments have delineated the Dauki fault as a thrust zone along which the low resistivity layer of Bengal sediments and the underlying oceanic crust subduct to the northwest. Another thrust zone, parallel to the Dauki thrust is observed in the lower Brahmaputra valley, corresponding to the Brahmaputra fault, which is interpreted to be an intracratonic thrust within the Indian plate. These results suggest that a large fraction of the seismicity over the Shillong plateau is associated with the NE-SW striking Dauki thrust, contrary to the earlier belief that this fault zone is relatively aseismic. On the basis of these studies, scientists at IIG have proposed that the NE Indian crust responds differently at different depths to the tectonic forces generated by the Himalayan and Indo-Burman subduction processes. At deeper levels the crustal readjustments take place through the subduction along the Dauki and Brahmaputra thrusts. At shallow levels the relative deformability of the supracrustal blocks have a strong influence on the tectonics, leading to the strike slip mechanism along the surface expression of the Dauki fault. Studies over the Tawang-Tejpur-Dimapur region, east of this profile
have also shown similar thrust zones (Figure 10.4).

Figure 10.4: Magnetotelluric studies over Shillonh Plateau and lower Brahmaputra Sediments

A Curie isotherm map over India has been generated using different techniques from both the aeromagnetic data and the CHAMP satellite data. In both the cases this map clearly shows the thinning of the magnetic crust below the mobile belts. Further, from this map a heat-flow map of India has been generated.

In the environmental magnetism laboratory of IIG, four distinct climatic phases were reconstructed from a study of the lake succession at Goting, Higher Central Himalaya, spanning the Last Glacial Stage (25-13 ka). An overall cold and dry condition between 25 and 20 ka with a peak at around 22 ka has been associated with the Last Glacial Maximum. Time series analyses of the multiproxy data suggest a 200-year periodicity indicating a control of solar insolation changes, and a coupling of the Higher Central Himalaya region to the climatic fluctuations in the northern latitudes.

In the area of Palaeomagnetism, dykes in the Deccan volcanic province have been studied to determine the duration of the Deccan event and whether the dykes were feeders of the volcanic rocks. A comprehensive magnetostratigraphy of the lake sediments from the Kashmir basin has been found to be significantly different from an earlier study that was carried out in close sections. Palaeomagnetic investigations were carried out on samples collected from a number of basic intrusive bodies, which had trespassed into Dudhi Granitoid Complex, Mahakoshal Belt and Vindhyan Group of rocks. As the derived virtual geomagnetic pole (VGP) was found to be close to that of the newer dolerite dykes of Singhbhum Craton, ages of the intrusives were assigned to the Palaeo-Proterozoic. Low field AMS studies of samples collected from several locations of basalts associated with iron ore group of rocks of Precambrian age around Keonjhar and Judah areas, Orrisa, revealed that the structural fabrics of these basaltic rocks are due to later tectonic activities that occurred in this region, and the stress and strain directions along NE-SW agreed well with the structural elements documented in the outcrop. Palaeomagnetic investigations on samples collected from several dolerite dykes from the Bastar Craton surroundings of Raipur district (Chattisgarh) have yielded VGPs belonging to five different generations of magmatic activity in the region. Rock magnetic studies revealed ‘magnetite’ as the major magnetic mineral in the rock samples.

Characteristics of post-seismic deformation transients have been studied using GPS measurements, in order to understand the earthquake cycle and rheology of Bhuj, Kashmir, and Andaman regions. The average velocity at Gulmarg (8.6 cm/yr) is found to be significantly higher than the Indian plate velocity exhibiting post-seismic crustal deformation, and the NS component of this post-seismic deformation agrees with the characteristics of afterslip. For the Sumatra earthquake, a co-seismic slip model has been developed using horizontal co-seismic displacement distribution with constraints from nine latitudinally dispersed GPS sites in the Indian region. Visco-elastic models have been developed for Andaman and Bhuj regions. It is found that, while the post-seismic relaxation is continuing significantly in Andaman region, it has ceased in Bhuj region, which may be preparing for another earthquake.

Instrumentation Division

The instrumentation division is involved in development and maintenance of various instruments used for observations in the research projects undertaken at IIG. Two proton precession magnetometers (PPMs) of 0.1 nT sensitivity have been fabricated. One of these has been supplied to the National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL), Gadanki. An engineer from NARL was also given training on the PPM.

Publications

Specialized services offered

1. Indian magnetic data was supplied to scientists and students in research organizations such as Space Physics Laboratory, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre of ISRO, Physical Research Laboratory, and Indian Institute of Astrophysics, and Universities and Colleges.
2. Indian Magnetic Data was supplied to International organizations such as World Data Centers and scientists at research institutes and universities for international collaborations.
3. For applications, Alibag geomagnetic data for 2002-2005 were supplied to Survey of India, Dehradun; Tirunelveli and Jaipur data for December 2005 to May 2006, and Pondicherry data for May-June, 2006, were supplied to ONGC, Dehradun.
4. Calibration of compasses was undertaken for the Indian Navy, Pawan Hans Helicopter Ltd, and Indian Coast Guard Air stations.
5. Four B. Tech., one M.Tech., and nine M.Sc. students worked on summer projects or dissertations at IIG. Eleven Ph.D. students from other institutions were given specialized training in various areas of Geomagnetism.

External Cash Flow/Scientist

IIG scientists have 11 externally funded projects with a total budget of Rs. 134.10 lakhs. External Cash Flow/Scientist = Rs. 3.4 lakhs.

On-going collaborative research and technology development Projects

The Institute has been collaborating with the following Institutions within India and abroad:
1. Assam University, Silchar, for relocating IIG’s magnetic observatory to a suitable site in the campus of Assam University.
2. Shivaji University, Kolhapur, to renew and expand the scope of on-going collaboration between Shivaji University and IIG.
3. ARIES, Nainital
4. Department of Physics, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.
5. NGRI, Hyderabad.
6. Geology Department, Guwahati University.
7. Presidency College, Kolkata
8. STAR Laboratory, Stanford University, USA [International Heliophysical Year (IHY)/United Nations Basic Space Science Initiative (UNBSSI) Program]
9. GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, Germany.
10. Space Environment Research Center, Kyushu University, Japan.
11. Boston College and Air Force Research Laboratory, USA (IHY/UNBSSI Program)
12. Lancaster University, UK.

WADIA INSTITUTE OF HIMALAYAN GEOLOGY, DEHRA DUN

The Scientists of the Institute continued to work on the frontline themes of the Earth Science studies in the Himalaya. Under the ‘Himtransect Programme’, new information on the inverted metamorphism was collected from Garhwal-Kumaun Himalaya to constrain ‘channel flow’ model for the evolution of the Himalaya. The Institute undertook morpho-sedimentary studies along the Alaknanda valley, fossil-fauna on the Lesser Himalayan Carbonate belts and morphological and isotopic studies of whales from Subathu Group. The recently established seismic network has helped to map the ramp structure associated with the July 22, 2007 Kharsiali earthquake in Garhwal Himalaya.

The Institute organized a Workshop on “Collision Zone Geodynamics-Geocollision 2007”. During the year more than 12 research papers were accepted for publication in SCI journals. The Institute imparted field and laboratory training to 12 M.Sc./M.Tech students and two theses were submitted for the award of Ph.D degree.

The institutional projects under the Mission Mode Programmes the Institute undertook 19 sponsored research activities with a total financial outlay of 26 crores. The number of working woman Scientists/ Research Scholars have increased from 4 to 15 between the years 2003 to 2007. Scientists of the Institute have also undertaken International collaborative programme under the JSPS, ILTP and NSF sponsored Projects. Major infrastructure developments include establishment of Multi-Parametric Geophysical Observatory for earthquake precursory research, VSAT Linked seismological network for real time earthquake monitoring and Electron-Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA) and SEM with EDAX for geochemical and for identification of geomorphological feature of fossil and biological fauna.

Molecule to Material Science Bose Institute, KOLKATA

The Bose Institute is devoted to research in the fields of Plant science, Molecular Biology, Biomedical Sciences, Biotechnology, Quantum mechanics, Astrophysics and Condensed Matter Physics.

During the year, the Scientists of Bose Institute published 132 papers in peer reviewed journals and 14 students obtained their Ph. D degree. A number of its scientists and research scholars participated in numerous academic activities (seminars, conferences, workshops, etc.) in India and abroad as invited speakers, chairpersons and resource persons.

Research Activities

The research activities in the Department of Biochemistry have been directed primarily towards an understanding of the process of gene expression in plants and bacteria. In the late eighties, these studies were continued using the recombinant DNA technology, and several new research programmes were initiated, including plant and animal biotechnology, cell cycle regulation in budding yeast and Entamoeba histolytica, structure-activity relationships of gene regulatory proteins. In recent years, the elucidation of protein structures using X-ray crystallography and NMR spectroscopic methods, studies aimed at understanding protein conformation, folding, protein-protein association, binding of drugs to target proteins and theoretical modeling of protein structures and docking have been undertaken.

The research focus in the Department of Biophysics is on Structural Biology. Projects in the area of Protein-nucleic acid interaction, bioinformatics, spectroscopy and protein engineering are in progress.

The scientists of the Department of Botany are engaged in several different aspects of plant science such as transcript profiling of male and female floral buds of pointed gourd (unisexual flower), plant DNA fingerprinting, diagnostics of medicinal potential and effect of UV on growth and quality of rice and tea, resource survey analysis of wild gene pool with reference to seeds, cloning of the trans-acting factor that binds to ABA responsive MotifII cis-acting element, fruit ripening and lycopene biosynthesis in Tomato, Banana and other different fruits, application of biotechnology in medicinal plant species, studies on airborne allergenic pollen grains and spores, improvement of aromatic rice suitable for West Bengal and profiling of Resistant gene analogue in rice, functional genomic approaches to understand the mechanism of resistant against Alternaria brassicola and a survey of genetic resource in wild and cultivated variety of tomato resistant against Fusarium oxysporum.

Department of Chemistry is engaged in research in multidisciplinary areas covering biophysical chemistry, chemical physics, natural products, synthetic organic chemistry, lipids, enzymes, diseases and drug targeting. In keeping with the pace of modern developments, department is venturing into newer areas of research. At present both basic and applied aspects of various systems are being studied. Currently, mechanism of drug resistance in Vibrio cholerae and mycobacteria, modulation of host cell signaling by bacterial pathogens, antioxidative and protective role of active ingredients from Indian medicinal plants, electro-optical and theoretical studies of ferroelectric smectic liquid crystals, mechanism of chaperone function of ±-crystallin, synthesis and reactions of heterocycles, regulation of ion-transport enzyme and mechanism of immunosuppression in Visceral leishmaniasis are being studied.

The research activities in Department of Microbiology address the problems in the areas of parasitic and bacterial infections of human, plant-microbe and mineral microbe interactions and degradation of environmental pollutants.

Current research activities in the Department of Physics are in the areas of Radiation Physics; Interdisciplinary Physics; Foundations of Quantum Mechanics and Quantum Entanglement; Astrophysics of Strongly Interacting Matter; Characterization of Detector Materials for Heavy Ions; Preparation and Characterization of Dielectric Materials.

In the area of Animal Physiology, scientist are mainly engaged in applied research in the fields of (a) animal biotechnology (aquaculture and sericulture) and (b) medical biotechnology (cancer chemoprevention and thyroid hormone–brain relationship) as well as in basic research in the fields of cell cycle regulation and immunology using various phytochemicals.

The Immunotechnology Section is engaged in development of modern technologies in the field of Immunology and Molecular Biology. Research programs in the section have been initiated in the field of Medical Biotechnology and Marine Biotechnology.

The Plant Tissue Culture Section focused on researches on the plant genetic engineering towards improvement of plant productivity. Also, the major emphasis has been given to identify the basic genomic components coding for desirable phenotypes through genetical and molecular approaches. Conventional and transgenic approaches are being employed to introgress some of these genes in crop plants.

Centre for Advance Research on Astroparticle Physics and Space Science; & Centre for Advance Research on Structural Biology are being established under Intensification of Research on High Priority Areas (IRHPA) of DST.

Besides, more than 65 Extra Mural Research Projects, funded by various Government agencies were carried out in Bose Institute during the year.

CENTRE FOR LIQUID CRYSTAL RESEARCH, BANGALORE

Highlioghts of the scientific activities undertaken during the year 2007-2008 are mentioned below:

• A novel class of lyotropic liquid crystals referred to as chromonic liquid crystals, which have promising applications in antibiotics and anti-cancer agents, was formed by aqueous solution of sunset yellow and studied experimentally show interesting physical properties and also evidence of worm-like micellar behavior.
• In a phenyl benzoate derivative, in the nematic liquid crystal layer, the sequence of bifurcation generated under an ac field driving, the Freedericksz transition is followed by bifurcation into various patterned states. Planar aligned samples show a new type of ac field generated transition to a periodically modulated director configuration. This result has considerable importance in liquid crystal display technology.
• In the studies of some new unconventional materials, a biaxial nematic liquid crystal material consisting of highly asymmetric bent core, with five aromatic rings, 13C NMR show a surprising result that one of the off-center aromatic rings of azo-substituted bent-core liquid crystal exhibits very high orientational order.
• Two types of novel cholesterol-based dimers were synthesized, where in one type cholesterol was covalently combined with either phenyl 4-cyanobenzoate or phenyl trans-4-pentycyclohexane carbonylate cores in an end-to-end fashion whereas in another type, O-alkylated cinnamic acid and cholesterol segments were interlinked covalently through a methylene spacer varying in its length and parity. Both types of dimers exhibit interesting mesogenic properties.
• The studies carried out on a photoactive liquid crystal composite system with aerosil show interesting features such as the photoinduced shift in the transition temperature varying in a non-monotonic fashion with the aerosil composition. The different response times associated with photochemical processes increase with the increase in the aerosil composition albeit non-monotonically.
  

These studies are very significant from a fundamental point of view but generally with a bias towards technology.

• Cumulative Impact factor : 52.726
  
• Average Impact factor : 3.515
  

Number of Ph.D.s produced: 1
Specialized services offered:

• Fab High Resolution Mass Spectrometer for molecular weight upto 6000 Dalton, Differential scanning calorimeter system with sub-ambient cooling assembly, Elemental Analyser for CHN analysis, UV/ VIS/NIR Spectrometer with integrating sphere covering the wavelength range 180-2500nm, X-ray Diffraction Equipment, CD Spectrometer for absorbance and Circulation Dichroism Measurements
  

External Cash Flow/Scientist : Rs.2.16 Lakh / Scientist

Total number of on-going collaborative research and technology development projects within India and with foreign partners:

• Two projects within India [ SERC and CSIR project]
  
• Two projects with foreign partners [Indo-Hungary and Indo-Italian project]

Adjunct/Visiting Faculty/Research Staff affiliated One to Institution or Research Program:

Figure 10.5: Electric Field Driven instabilities far from primary bifurcation observed between crossed polarizers P(x)-A(y). (a) Development of a new azimuthal instability in the form of periodic striations along x in the regions between the bean-like objects at ~ 59V, 50Hz. (b) Extensive and undulatory appearance of the azimuthal bands along x at 60V, 50Hz. INDIAN

ASSOCIATION FOR CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE (IACS), KOLKATA

In the Department of Biological Chemistry, different pathways of cell signaling by Methylglyoxal have been studied; purification and characterization of a novel protein with Glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase inhibitory property has been achieved and characterization of GAPDH purified from chemical carcinogen induced sarcoma undertaken. Aspergillus versicolor biomass had been functionalized by carbon disulfide treatment under alkaline conditions and characterized by ATR-IR, 13C Solid State NMR, SEMEDXA & AFM studies and the adsorption capacity of the modified biomass towards mercury had been found to increase by 3 fold over the pristine biomass. Studies on self-assembling peptide and pseudopeptide based nanomaterials and their applications in material and biosciences and also the construction of nanomaterials using molecular self-assembly of peptide based dendritic moiety have been done. Investigations were carried out to understand the structure-function relationship of enzyme in membrane mimetic confined systems and to develop novel green medium for biochemical transformations. Also lowmolecular weight soft matters were developed for the potent application in advanced materials to biotechnology. Distinct structural alterations of DNA due to binding of a trinuclear platinum cancer drug to DNA were investigated at the single molecule level, and implications linked to apoptosis. Multiple facets of a Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM) based approach for protein structure characterization were tested using iron-storage protein ferritin. Application of polymer coat for sensing purpose on a cantilever-based sensor array was realized.

In the Department of Organic Chemistry, several bio-active natural products, such as allelopathic sesquiterpene heliannuol derivatives, a cancer protective agent enterolactone and vibrindole A, a bacterial metabolite have been accomplished through novel protocols. Green synthetic procedures for several useful reactions like aza-Michael reaction, addition of thiols to unactivated alkenes have been developed using water as promoter and reaction medium. New and convenient procedures for synthesis of gold, silver, palladium and platinum nanoparticles in aqueous medium have been developed. Palladium and copper nanoparticles serve as excellent catalyst for Suzuki, Sonogashira, Stille, and related coupling reactions.

In the Department of Physical Chemistry, excitation wavelength dependence of ultrafast solvation dynamics and FRET is studied using the femtosecond up-conversion., Magnetic field effect on exciplex emission is used to explore the heterogeneous micro-environment in a reverse micelle. A new set up is being built to study IR and electronic spectroscopy in molecular clusters. Relativistic coupled-clustercalculations have been carried out on parity non-conserving transitions.Several issues in quantum Brownian motion (such as, a quantum equilibrium factor and underdamped quantum ratchet) and effect of external field on mass transport in a reaction diffusion system have been investigated. A parallel GA driven algorithm has been implemented for computing wave function and energy of hydrogen molecular ion and the zero band gap constrained wavefunction and energies of doped polythiophene and selenophenes.

In the Department of Inorganic Chemistry, studies of oxidation of aromatic amines by polyoxometallates; coordination chemistry of organic pi-radical ligands with paramagnetic metal ions; anion recognition/ encapsulation and sensing studies using tripodal and macrobicyclic receptors in solution as well as in solid state were carried out.

In the Department of Materials Science, nanoparticles, nanospindles and nanocubes of nitrides, oxides and silicates are prepared by sol-gel, hydrothermal and solvothermal techniques. Microstructural, optical and magnetic properties of nanostructred materials have been studied. Efficient population transfer to selected vibrational-rotational levels of diatomics by stimulated hyper-Raman process has been investigated within the framework of density matrix. The wave packet dynamics of alkali dimer Li2 with the two lowest surfaces coupled by a strong laser pulse has been studied. First principles simulation and design of dilute magnetic semiconductor for spintronics and hydrogen absorption of Tin@Si5H5 cluster have been carried out using local spin density method. The calculated structural and magnetic properties of soft ferromagnet, CeMnNi4 are in excellent agreement with experiments. The large magnetic moment of Fe in dilute Pd1-xVx alloys is found to be suppressed by V through a charge transfer process. Single electron tunneling phenomena have observed in self-assembled quantum structures of Ag on n-type Si(111) surface. Ion beam induced migration of Fe impurity atoms from C layers to the Pt layers in the Pt(Fe)/C(Fe) multilayers has been detected by the X-ray standing wave technique. Polycrystalline fullerene thin films on hydrogen passivated Si(111) substrates irradiated by energetic (2 MeV) protons exhibit ferromagnetism at 5 K. Nonlinear optical and ferroelectric properties of zinc thiourea complexes have been investigated. The structure of andrographiside has been analyzed by X-ray diffraction. Optical, electrical and dielectric properties of polyaniline intercalated into graphite oxide and dispersion of nanosized ZrO2, SiO2, SnO2 and CdS in conducting polymers have been studied. Structural phase transition of ferromagnetic shape memory alloy Co1.28Ni1.17Al appears below 270 K. Mesoporous materials with different framework compositions and functionalized advanced mesoporous materials have been synthesized. Up-conversion emission of rare earth doped oxide nanocrystals has been observed after excitation at 980 nm. Photoluminescence properties of Eu2O3 and coated ZrO2 have been studied. A theoretical method of derivation of finite temperature response function of superfluid Fermi gas of atoms has been developed. Giant dielectric permittivity in quasi-one dimensional conjugated polymer chain segments, ultra high capacitance in gold nanowires and metal-insulator transition in polymer nanotubes have been found. Magnetotrasport properties of double perovskites have been studied to understand the microscopic understanding of tunneling behavior.

In the Solid State Physics Department, growth mechanism of various nanoparticles, nanowires and nanorods embedded in glassy matrices has been investigated using high-resolution electron microscopy. The electrical transport properties and ac relaxation of nanocomposites have been studied in the temperature range 10-350 K. The transport and magnetic properties of mixed-valent perovskite, chalcogenides, and nanostructured materials have been studied. Magneto-structural instability in transition metal based alloys has been investigated. Electroresistive switching and magnetocaloric effects on manganites system have been analyzed. Synthetically prepared K and Ti doped CuO materials showed temperature independent giant dielectric permittivity, suitable for use in microelectronic devices. Calcium phosphate based bioactive ceramics has been developed. Current rectification in a single nanowire has been achieved by introducing dopants in a section of the nanowire. n-ZnO/p-Si thin film heterojunctions have been fabricated. The junctions exhibit high rectification ratio and show sensitivity to UV light. Molecular dynamics simulations have been performed on a nucleic acid A-DNA decamer and structural transition has been observed in explicit solvent environment. Crystal structures of two hydantoin peptides have been solved via direct-space approach using X-ray powder diffraction data.

In the Polymer Science Unit, the triblock copolymer poly(methyl methacrylae)-b-poly(lauryl methacrylate)-b-poly(methyl methacrylate) which is a potential thermoplastic elastomer has been synthesized by the ATRP route. The PVF2 – camphor gels were dried vacuum and also by solvent replacement method. The prorosity of the resulting porous materials were studied by mercury intrusion porosometry, N2 adsorption porosometry and collapsing of pores on vacuum drying was observed. Polyaniline – clay gel nanocomposites with dinonyl napthyl disulphonic acid (DNNDSA) as dopant has been prepared. Both exfoliated and interacalated clay structures with 600% increase in storage modulus are produced. Nanocomposite of multiwalled carbon nanotubes with poly (3-hexyl thiophene) has showed enhanced mechanical and electroactive properties. Spongy gold nanocrystals with high surface area and flour-like silver nanocrystals have been prepared by modified citrate reduction technique. Spongy gold nanocrystals show high catalytic activity. Peptide-GNPs have also been assembled into 1D, 2D and 3D structural materials just simple varying the pH of the suspension

In the Department of Spectroscopy, studies were conducted on Langmuir Blodgett Films, on SERS and ab initio and DFT study; Ab initio calculations of atomic data under strongly coupled plasma. Studies on plasma embedded exotic systems revealed the existence of Thomas collapse phenomena in few body systems Development of method to study the spectroscopic properties of weakly bound molecules was undertaken. In coherent control of vibrational distribution, dissociation yield can be achieved by using delayed phaselocked ultrashort pulses. Analytical method for calculating ground state properties, excitation frequencies of atomic BEC considering higher order nonlinearities have been proposed. The investigations using steady state and time resolved spectroscopic techniques on the novel synthesized methoxynaphthalene dyad MNCA demonstrate that a single stable isomer of E-type is formed in the ground state which was found to remain unchanged in geometry even after photoexcitation Dielectric and conductivity studies have been made on CNT doped liquid crystal. A sharp and discontinuous jump of the Conductivity of the planar aligned CNT-doped liquid crystal has been observed for a certain d.c. bias field. It can be used as switching device. Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FESEM) has demonstrated spectacular changes in the morphology of thin films of copper (II) phthalocyanine (CuPc) deposited on gold coated quartz substrates at different substrate temperatures under normal atmosphere A fully automated programmable “Layer-By-Layer Sequential Adsorption” instrument has been designed and fabricated.

In the department of Theoretical Physics, the stability problem of the Randall Sundrum braneworld has been reexamined and it has been shown that even in the presence of stabilizing bulk fields the instability persists because of back reaction and that a scalar field can stabilize a braneworld only when it has a tachyon like action. The phenomenology of the wino LSP as obtained in the AMSB and some string models have been studied. A new approach to non-equilibrium statistical mechanical problems has been designed by using a fictitious time variable. This helps understand the connection between some growth models and fluid turbulence. Composite overlapping tRNA genes and the mechanism of alternate intron splicing has been successfully treated.

In the Energy Research Unit, photoluminescence studies on Nanostructured ZnO:Al films, prepared under different gas ambients reveals interesting results. ZnO:Al films have been prepared using DC magnetron sputtering instead of RF sputtering. Fabrications of single junction solar cells using protocrystalline and Nanocrystalline silicon are being done on 10cmx10cm area. Six cells have been integrated in series using laser scribing technique. Amorphous silicon-germanium thin films with high ambipolar diffusion length and low optical band gap have been deposited. The material has been applied in single and multijunction solar cells. Development of hydrogenated micro- and nano-crystalline silicon is in the research agenda. The nc-Si:H films are being prepared from helium diluted silane plasma and optimization of the process parameter is being done. The powder formation in the discharges of a mixture of silane-methane and silane-germane has been studied with the help of HRTEM. Modelling of double heterojunctions with intrinsic thin layers on P-c-Si wafers has been continued. Using our detailed electrical-optical computer simulator, ASDMP, we find that the defect states on the surface of the c-Si wafer play a dominant role in limiting cell performance. Modeling indicates that the defects on the front surface of the c-Si wafer, mainly affect the open- circuit voltage, with the fill factor also showing a considerable decline. On the other hand, the defects on the rear surface of the wafer predominantly degrade the short - circuit current density and fill factor, but only when their density exceeds 1012 cm-2.

Centre for Advanced Materials provided a forum for active interaction among scientists from diverse disciplines having interest in materials research and has been instrumental in setting up multiuse equipment facilities. Apart from this, there has been initiation of the Aneesur Rahman Centre for High Performance Computing for high-end computation and the Centre for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences. The Mission Programme for Technopreneurship progressed further. Two technologies are being transferred to industry and two industrial R&D projects are being commissioned. TIFAC has identified IACS as the Nodal Centre for the Intellectual Property Consortium for DST institutes in Kolkata for providing patent information and search facilities.

Approximately 300 publications have been reported till date with around 35 PhDs being awarded. Nine major awards and distinctions have been conferred on the scientists of the Institute which include one B.M. Birla Science Prize for Chemistry, one TWAS prize, two Ramanna Fellowships, two J.C. Bose Fellowships, one Ramanujan Fellowship, one TWAS fellowship and one fellowship of the Indian National Science Academy. Several scientists delivered invited lectures abroad.

JAWAHARLAL NEHRU CENTRE FOR ADVANCED SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH (JNCASR), BANGALORE

The Centre continued to pursue excellence in higher learning & research in the frontier areas of Materials Science, Theoretical Physics, Molecular Biology, & Genetics, Evolutionary biology, Chemical Biology and Geodynamics. A new programme of Integrated Ph. D. in Materials Science has been started. During the year, 14 Ph. D, 4 M. S. (Engg.) and 1 M. S. (Int. Ph. D) degrees were awarded. The student strength of the Centre has grown to 135. Several faculty members were awarded the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize. Prof C N R Rao, National Research Professor and Linus Pauling Research Professor, was recently honoured with the Fellowship of University of Oxford & Prof. C.N.R. Rao’s Education Foundation has generously donated to establish a Hall of Science which will be named as “Prof. C.N.R. Rao Hall of Science”.

The Chemistry and Physics of Materials Unit of the Centre focussed their research on utility of metal femtocups for nannoscale chemistry, lithographic techniques for production of nanocircuits, synthesis of nanomaterials, self assembling of nanostructures, design of efficient organic solar cells and various other materials. In the Engineering Mechanics Unit, a GTRE sponsored project was taken up. The work on connections between Indian monsoon rainfall and solar activity as well as boundary layers in the tropics was continued. A collaborative project with Max-Planck-India Partner Group was also granted.

The Evolutionary and Organismal Biology Unit is engaged in the studies on ‘D. melanogaster’ including the the details of the postulated brain clocks for ‘morning’ and ‘evening’ behaviours. In the Geodynamics Unit, a book on “The Making of India: Geodynamic Evolution”, was completed and fieldwork in the valley of the Jadh Ganga, in the India-Tibet border area was carried out. The Molecular Biology and Genetics Unit has adddressed the functional role of newly discovered microRNA, established the role of histone deacetylation in glioma, elucidated the suppressor function of Histone methylation and its connection to the tumor and initiated the studies on the reaction mechanism on the NAD dependent protein deacetylation.

In the Theoretical Sciences Unit, research in the areas of Computational Materials Design, multiscale modelling of condensed-matter systems, computational nanoscience, glassy systems in condensed-matter systems, quantum phase transitions, biomolecular simulations and other biologically motivated problems in condensed-matter and Statistical Physics were pursued. The Chemical Biology Unit has carried out studies on total synthesis of biologically active natural products, determination of structure of peptide toxins and proteins, study of biophysical properties of enzymes and study of lipids and DNA binding agents. In the Condensed Matter Theory Unit, studies in the areas of Electronic structure and properties were undertaken. In the Education Technology Unit CD-ROM’s focusing on learning aspects were developed.

Prof C N R Rao and his co-workers have found that nanoscale metal oxides and nitrides show room-temperature magnetism because of surface effects. Prof Kundu’s group has synthesized an inhibitor of p300/CBP from garcinol, a principal component of locally available Kokum (Garcinia indica) fruit.

Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) were signed with various leading Universities and industries from India and abroad. The Computing Facility and Instructional Computing Laboratory for Computational Materials Science (CCMS) and an X-Ray Diffraction Application Laboratory were established.

S.N.BOSE NATIONAL CENTRE FOR BASIC SCIENCES (SNBNCBS), KOLKATA

The Centre is undertaking research in the areas of interaction of biomolecules in constrained geometry, black holes, cosmology, soft constrained matter in constrained geometry, computational materials science of complex materials and alloys, nanomaterials synthesis and characterization, quantum Chemistry and high energy Physics and field theory. The Sputtering unit and the Vibrating Sample Magnetometer have been installed to facilitate the experimental facilities.

The Extended Visitor and Linkage Programme (EVLP) has been reconstituted for organizing conferences, meetings and lectures. A number of networking activities as joint projects with best institutions in the country and also the world, strategic alliance with Industrial R &D and mentoring programme with nearby Colleges and Universities have been initiated.

The Theoretical Physics Seminar Circuit (TPSC) has taken steps to make the programme better and more responsive to current needs, like introduction of new lecture series & seminars by eminent scholars, women scientists, lecture awards for women scientists, participation of younger people and involvement of less endowed academic institutions including institutions located in remote areas and North-East region.

The 17th S. N. Bose Memorial Lecture was delivered by Professor Rashid A Sunyaev, Director, Max- Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany on “Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation, Clusters of Galaxies and Cosmology”. Professor A. J. Legget, Noble Laurette visited the Centre and had informal discussion with the faculty and students. The Centre organized 4 national and international conferences in Kolkata and 2 conferences with IIT/Kanpur and JNCASR/Bangalore.

The Condensed Matter Laboratory is being upgraded with addition of Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), Femto Second Laser Facility, Ion Beam-Electron Microscope and facilities to do spectroscopic experiments. A high performance computer cluster facility is under progress which will further augment the research facility.

13 students have joined Ph.D and 8 students have been taken with Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) as a part of the post B. Sc. integrated PhD programme in Chemical Sciences. Under the EVLP programme, 4 new visiting faculty fellows and 3 post-doctoral fellows have joined. The Centre is organising 8 conferences/workshop/schools and an international conference on Black–hole observation.

Dr. Ranjan Chaudhury was awarded “International Scientist of the Year for 2007" by International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England and Dr. Kalyan Mandal received Humboldt Fellowship (Followup program) to work in IFW-Dresden, Germany

The Faculty Members have published 37 research papers in national and international journals and have received 5 Projects in the last year in the areas of Superconductors, superconducting magnets, ferrite nanoparticles, etc.