ANNUAL REPORT 2014 NATIONAL CENTRE FOR PHYSICS “The main objective of NCP is to promote research in physics and allied disciplines and to develop science culture in Pakistan.” © 2015 National Centre for Physics (NCP) Quaid-i-Azam University Campus Shahdra Valley Road, Islamabad. ISBN: 978-969-9350-14-6 Compiled by: Dr. Riffat M. Qureshi Ata ur Rehman Ashiq Hussain Composed by: Syed Hasnat Gillani Photographs by: Muhammad Imran Iqbal Published by: Collaborations & Academic Activities Department Director General’s Message The National Centre for Physics was established in 2004 on the pattern of The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (AS-ICTP), Trieste, Italy. It is a unique centre for research in fundamental and advanced areas of physics in Pakistan. The main objective of NCP is to promote research in the field of physics and allied disciplines in Pakistan. NCP endeavors to engage in world-class research and develop science culture in the country. NCP is a novel research institute aiming to produce world-class scientific researchers at NCP, as without good science no progress can be made in any area of technology or applied sciences. It is a matter of great pleasure for me to see that NCP has achieved national and international recognition at its initial stages and has gained a high pedestal among well- established research institutes of the country. At NCP, we are recognized for providing most up-to-date research facilities, which are not only used by the researchers at NCP but are available to all physics community of Pakistan. Facilities offered are: accelerator, nano-science laboratory, computing resources, experimental high-energy physics and vacuum sciences. NCP is providing a free academic atmosphere to young researchers for their personal grooming by providing them a unique platform with an excellent opportunity to discuss results of their theoretical and experimental research in the presence of internationally renowned scientists and experts. Communicating new ideas and important results is an important part of the scientific process and it is our hope that NCP will motivate young researchers to think in terms of interesting problems at the leading edge of science, which itself will lead to high quality research at international level. NCP is involved and have scientific cooperation agreements with several international centres’ of scientific excellence and learning. The list includes AS-ICTP, SESAME, ALS, KRISS and CERN. It is important to note that after 20 years of efforts, Pakistan is on its way to acquire the Associate Membership of CERN that will strengthen the long-term partnership between CERN and the Pakistani scientific community. Moreover, it will allow Pakistani scientists to become members of the CERN staff, and to participate in CERN’s training and career-development programs. In the year 2014 more than 20 events were conducted at NCP including International Scientific Spring (ISS) and International School on LHC Physics, in which hundreds of students participated and showed their interest towards the field of physics and allied disciplines. Moreover 162 hosted researchers were registered at NCP and 186 research papers were published. Apart from laboratories, NCP has a good infrastructure including state of the art auditorium, guest house, BOQs, MOQs & cafeteria. These facilities provide a very conducive environment to hold National & International events. NCP is now focusing to bridge the gap between Industry & R&D. For this purpose, NCP has established a Business Development Unit which will liaise with industry in identifying its needs, keeping in view the NCP research areas. I believe that all of us in the physics and scientific community of Pakistan should join hands and make NCP a real success story. Hafeez R. Hoorani What’s Inside 1. Research Publications (International Research Papers) ..................................................................... 9 2. Hosted Researchers ............................................................................................................................... 25 3. Scientific Events, Trainings and Meetings ......................................................................................... 29 4. Participation of NCP Researchers in Conferences, Meetings and Expert Assignments ............. 45 5. Visits of Distinguished Guests to NCP ............................................................................................... 47 6. Visits of College and University Students to NCP ........................................................................... 49 7. Visits of NCP Faculty to Educational / Research Institutes ............................................................ 51 8. Research & Development Activities ................................................................................................... 55 8.1 Theoretical Physics Department (TPD) ..................................................................................... 57 8.2 Atomic and Laser Physics Laboratory (ALPL) ......................................................................... 61 8.3 Experimental High Energy Physics Department (EHEPD) .................................................... 63 8.4 Nano Sciences and Catalysis Department (NS&CD) .............................................................. 71 8.5 X-ray Photoelectron Spectrometer (XPS) ................................................................................... 81 8.6 Centre for Earthquake Studies (CES) ......................................................................................... 85 8.7 National Institute of Vacuum Science & Technology (NINVAST) ....................................... 87 8.8 NCP Mechanical Engineering Workshop ................................................................................. 89 9. NCP Sports Gala 2014 ........................................................................................................................... 93 10. Appreciation ........................................................................................................................................... 95 11. Welcome .................................................................................................................................................. 97 12. Honours & Awards ............................................................................................................................... 99 13. Obituary ................................................................................................................................................ 101 NCP Team Leaders (2014) 1. Research Publications (International Research Papers) DG Experimental Physics During the year 2014, NCP researchers published a total of one hundred and eighty six (186) research papers in the following international impact factor journals: 2012-13 5 Year Sr. # Journal (Full Title) Impact Factor Impact Factor 1 Nature Physics 20.603 20.059 2 Physical Review Letters 7.728 7.411 3 Nanomedicine-Nanotechnology Biology and Medicine 6.93 7.647 4 Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters 6.687 6.91 5 Polymer Reviews 6.593 11.035 6 Biosensors & Bioelectronics 6.451 6.054 7 Journal of High Energy Physics 6.22 4.982 Director Admin 8 Physics Letters B 6.019 4.156 9 ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces 5.9 5.908 10 Free Radical Biology and Medicine 5.71 5.983 11 European Physical Journal C 5.436 4.018 12 Physical Review D 4.864 4.046 Director Accelerator 13 Journal of Physical Chemistry C 4.835 5.241 9 Annual Report 2014 Annual Report 2014 14 Journal of Nanobiotechnology 4.078 15 Physical Review C 3.881 3.551 16 Organic Electronics 3.676 3.929 17 New Journal of Chemistry 3.159 2.837 18 Quantum Information Processing 2.96 2.441 19 International Journal of Hydrogen Energy 2.93 3.448 International Journal of Polymeric Materials and 20 2.784 2.062 Polymeric Biomaterials 21 Journal of Alloy and Compound 2.726 2.407 22 Applied Surface Science 2.538 2.469 23 Astrophysics Space Science 2.401 2.401 24 Journal of Nanoparticle Research 2.278 2.927 25 Materials Letters 2.269 2.288 26 Physics of Plasmas 2.249 2.14 Fig. 1: Department wise-comparison of 5-years average publications 27 Journal of Applied Physics 2.185 2.259 28 Advances in Polymer Technology 2.147 1.841 29 Synthetic Metals 2.109 2.102 30 Nano-Micro Letters 2.057 1.91 Department-wise summary of the published research papers is as following: Sr. # Fields No. of Papers 1 Theoretical Physic 41 2 Experimental High Energy Physics 67 3 Nano Sciences & Catalysis 51 4 Laser Plasma Physics 09 5 Electrostatic Accelerator Physics 16 6 Vacuum Science and Technology 02 Fig. 2: 5-years average VS current year publications Total 186 10 11 Annual Report 2014 Annual Report 2014 List of published research papers is given below: 17. S. A. Shan and N. Akhtar, “Large amplitude acoustic solitons in a warm electronegative dusty plasma with q-nonextensive distributed electrons”, Astrophys Space Sci 349 (1), 273-283 (2014), DOI: 10.1007/s10509-013-1647-3 1.1 Theoretical Physics 18. S. A. Shan and H. Saleem, “Small amplitude ion-acoustic double layers with cold electron beam and 1. W. Masood, A. M. Mirza, A. Ijaz, and Q. Haque, “Shear flow driven counter rotating vortices in an q-nonextensive electrons”, Phys Lett A 378 (10), 795-799 (2014), DOI: 10.1016/j.physleta.2014.01.015 inhomogeneous dusty magnetoplasma”, Astrophys Space Sci 349 (2), 829-834 (2014), DOI: 10.1007/ 19. S. A. Shan and Q. Haque, “Ion acoustic drift solitons and shocks with