ANNUAL REPORT 2007 – 2008 INDIAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE CULTIVATION OF SCIENCE JADAVPUR, KOLKATA – 700 032 (ESTABLISHED IN 1876) Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science 2A & B, Raja Subody Chandra Mullick Road Jadavpur, Kolkata – 700 032, India Telephone : +(91) (33) 2473 4971/5374 Fax : +(91) (33) 2473 2805 Web : http://www.iacs.res.in/ Email : [email protected] Design, Typesetting and layout SAILEE 4A, Manicktola Main Road Kolkata-700 054, Phone : 2352 2263 Photography G C Basak IACS, Kolkata-700 032 INDEX PART – A 5 From the Director’s Desk 7 IACS Profile 9 Administrative and Financial Set-up 11 Research Work Carried out in various Departments / Units / Centres 21 Projects 28 Journal and Services Indian Journal of Physics 31 Library 33 Central Scientific Services 34 Workshop 39 PART – B 41 Faculty Members and Research Activities Materials Sciences 43 Solid State Physics 54 Spectroscopy 61 Theoretical Physics 70 Energy Research Unit 79 MLS Professor’s Unit 82 Biological Chemistry 83 Inorganic Chemistry 86 Organic Chemistry 92 Physical Chemistry 96 Polymer Science Unit 100 Raman Center for Atomic Molecular & Optical Sciences 103 Centre for Renewable Energy Sources 106 Centre for Advanced Materials (CAM) 108 Inter-Institutional Collaboration 109 Staff & Students Matters 110 4 IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 Publications Ph. D. (Science) Degree Awarded to Research Workers 156 Research Publications in Peer Reviewed Journals 160 Inter Departmental Publications 184 Paper Published in Books 185 Papers Presented in Symposia / Conferences 186 Staff Strength as on 31st March, 2008 194 Annexure Annual Accounts iii Audit Report viii Budget xix IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 5 PART – A 6 IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 7 From the Director’s Desk begin with a note of congratulations to the faculty, students and staff members for the I excellent performance during the year that has passed by (2007-08). Our research output has been nothing short of spectacular, 380 papers published in Journals of high impact factor (average impact factor ~ 2.2), 42 students have received Ph.D degrees, 9 students have graduated under the Post B.Sc Integrated Ph.D programme in Chemical Science and another batch of 11 students have appeared in the final examination. Two technologies have been transferred to industry, one patent has been sealed, one provisional application has been filed. Systematic renovation of the working laboratories and generation of new quality lab space as well as the quality office space for the faculty, staff and the students continued throughout the year. There has been a noticeable face-lift all around. The most important achievement has been our success to attract extremely bright young researchers from all over the world – from Stanford, Princeton, Berkeley, Cornell, Innsbruk, Oxford, MPI, MIT, to mention a few. We have succeeded in recruiting 16 young researchers with great potential. Some have joined and some are likely to join shortly. Many would initiate researches in the emergent frontiers of multidisciplinary research. With the addition of fresh blood, IACS shall surely be rejuvenated and look for a qualitative change in the ambiance, productivity and quality of research. It is now the time to translate our common dream into reality – to make IACS one of the best seats of higher learning and research. The interaction with scientific world at large continued unabated. Eighteen endowment lectures were held giving our faculty and students the opportunity to interact with stalwarts and exchange ideas. New Centers were established to initiate research in the frontier areas. The Aneesur Rahman Center for High Performance Computing was inaugurated by Professor Michele Parrinello of the ETH Zurich, Switzerland on October 4, 2007 and The Raman Center for Atomic, Molecular and Optical Sciences was inaugurated by Professor Werner Kutzelnigg of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum and Professor Martin Quack of the ETH Zürich on January 9, 2008 – Professor Mihir Chowdhury graced the occasion as the Chief Guest. The Center for Advanced Materials celebrated its first anniversary by organizing a one-day in-house symposium on July 13, 2007 – Professor T Ramasami, Secretary, DST was the Guest of Honor on the occasion. IACS has been identified as the Nodal Center of an Intellectual Property Facilitation Consortium of DST institutes in Kolkata by the TIFAC. The scientific contributions of the faculty and the students have been noticed by the scientific community all over the world, bringing accolades and recognitions. Notably, Professor K Bhattacharyya received the TWAS prize in Chemical Sciences for 2007, Professor D D Sarma was elected a fellow of the TWAS and a fellow of the American Physical Society. Professor D Mukherjee received the Fukui Medal of the Asia Pacific Association of Theoretical and Computational Chemistry (2008) and elected a Fellow and a Board Member of the Asia-Pacific Consortium on Theoretical and Computational Chemistry. Professor S Ray received the Photovoltaic R&D Award of the Solary Energy Society of India and Professor B C Ranu was elected a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy. 8 IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 There have been many more awards, laurels and recognitions brought to IACS by the faculty and scholars. Our accomplishments are also tinged with a feeling of sadness. Professor A P Mitra, our President for the last four years, passed away suddenly on September 03, 2007. A doyen of Indian Science and an unwavering friend of the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Professor Mitra will be missed by us for many years to come. In a short time he helped transform IACS to rise to new heights with his wisdom, insight and dynamic leadership. There are problem areas – space crunch, power problem, water scarcity etc. Concerted efforts are being made to tackle all the problems on a short term. An integrated planning is being given shape for tackling all such problems on a long term basis – with a projected requirement of the next 10 years in mind. The plan to construct a second campus has gathered momentum. DPR for the new on-campus laboratory complex, guest house and hostel facilities have been submitted to the DST. We have received unstinted support from the Council, DST, Government of West Bengal and all sections of staff and scholars. I specially thank the editorial board for doing a commendable job in compiling the Annual Report in a rather short time. Special thanks are due for Shri N C Das Roy for his commendable efforts. I wish you a very sunny year ahead. There may be obstacles on our way to further growth, which we shall overcome together. With cordial greetings to you all, D Mukherjee IACS ANNUAL REPORT 2007-08 9 IACS Profile 876 was a landmark year in the Annals of Asian Science. In this year was founded a unique institution 1in Bengal which barely about a decade after the Calcutta University started functioning, envisioned initiating teaching and research programs in Science. The Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science (IACS) was the first institute in Asia, which embarked on such a challenging task. The main aspiration to build IACS was Dr. Mahendra Lal Sircar, the first MD from Calcutta. He was the first Asian, who believed that a country could prosper only by the achievement of research in Science. Dr. Sircar’s dream was realized by the inauguration of IACS at 210 Bowbazar Street on Saturday, July 29, 1876. In the early phase, the list of lecturers in Science in IACS included all the intellectual luminaries of the era: Rev. Father Lafont, Jagadish Chandra Bose, Asutosh Mukherjee, Chunilal Bose and Pramathanath Bose. Pandit Iswar Chandra Vidyasagar and Kesab Chandra Sen were among the members of the first Trustee Board of IACS, with Dr. Sircar himself as the first Honorary Secretary. Apart from these great scholars, the stalwart public figures like Gurudas Banerjee, Rajendralal Mitra and Surendranath Banerjee were its patrons. Raja Peary Mohan Mukherjee was the first Indian to take the position of the President of IACS in 1912. His other distinguished successors have been Dr. Nilratan Sircar, Jnan Chandra Ghosh and Satyendra Nath Bose. The IACS entered a new phase with the emergence in the scene of C V Raman in 1907. He initiated serious research in IACS as a part-time worker, while carrying out his duties in the Accountant General’s office in Calcutta – under the inspiring leadership of Dr. Sircar’s son Amrita Lal Sircar - the then secretary of IACS. The rest was history. The celebrated Raman Effect was discovered in 1928, which culminated in Raman’s receiving the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1930. IACS still to-date remains the institute of India, which has fetched a Nobel Prize in Science. Raman started a vibrant school of research, which attracted quite a few talented scientists, who furthered the progress of research along with and after the departure of Raman, K S Krishnan started the pioneering school of modern magnetism and structural physics. K Banerjee pioneered the early development of the direct method of crystallography. IACS in the independent India continued to flourish. The modern phase of IACS was started by Meghnad Saha, the eminent Astrophysicist. In the year 1948, on 26th September, the foundation stone of a new building of IACS was inaugurated by Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy at Jadavpur. In the year 1951, the new building became functional, and several new departments were opened. In 1953, Meghnad Saha became the first full-time Director of IACS. The institute reached new heights with his scientific vision, leadership and personal influence. With his untimely demise in 1956 IACS suffered a temporary setback, but under the guidance of Satyendra Nath Bose, P Ray and others it rapidly started flourishing again in full vigor.