RAMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE Bangalore Annual Report 2006 - 2007
RAMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE Bangalore Annual Report 2006 - 2007 INTRODUCTION The Raman Research Institute was founded by Prof. C.V. Raman in the late forties. After his death in 1970, it was reorganised as a national institute for research in basic science. The Institute has been receiving grants from the Department of Science and Technology of the Government of India since 1972. The main fields of research have been, and continue to be, Astronomy & Astrophysics, Light & Matter Physics, Soft Condensed Matter and Theoretical Physics. The Liquid Crystals research has expanded and diversified and is today the Soft Condensed Matter research theme that includes inter-disciplinary soft condensed matter and biological physics, which has a significant overlap and interaction with the Theoretical Physics activity. In addition, Laboratories in the theme of Light and Matter Physics are making experimental studies in the emerging fields of laser cooling and trapping of atoms and molecules, imaging through turbid media, and ultra-fast atomic processes using femtosecond (10 15 s) laser pulses. 1. Astronomy & Astrophysics and related signal processing, imaging, and instrumentation development Astronomy measures phenomena in outer space, i.e., planets, stars, galaxies, clusters of galaxies and the intervening gas and dust in interstellar and intergalactic space; astrophysics develops physical models that deepen our understanding of the universe. An important aspect of modern astronomy and astrophysics is the study of the evolution of the universe and its constituents: the formation of stars and galaxies out of the primordial gas. These studies are accomplished by examining the radiation received on Earth from or through them, developing theoretical models for the observed phenomena, and simulating the physical processes in powerful computers.
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