Research experience

PhD Research: Polaritons in Low-Symmetry van der Waals Materials and Their Stacks

Advisor: Prof. Thomas Folland, Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

• Examining optical properties of anisotropic excitons and exciton-polaritons in ReSe₂.
• Substrate-driven tuning of canalized phonon polaritons in twisted MoO₃ stacks.
• Determining the crystallographic orientation of low-symmetry vdW materials using Electron Backscatter Diffraction.
• Examining optical properties of highly birefringent low-symmetry vdW materials.
• Exploring polarized response in metamaterials. Building polarized Raman and PL setup.

Visiting Research: Growing bulk vdW Materials using Chemical Vapor Transport

Advisor: Dr. Seng Huat Lee, Physics, Pennsylvania State University

Grew bulk ReTe_xSe_2-x crystals using chemical vapor transport method. Characterized the grown crystals using XRD and EDS.

Summer Research: Building a Photoluminescence Setup

Advisor: Prof. Ravitej Uppu, Physics and Astronomy, University of Iowa

Built a photoluminescence setup that can perform time-resolved PL measurements in the visible range, involving a diffraction grating monochromator. Learnt alignment of laser and white light beams through several optics.

Master's Thesis: Exploring Optoelectronics in TMDC Heterostructures

Advisor: Prof. Arindam Ghosh, Physics, IISc

Examined and modeled I-V characteristics and photoresponse in hBN-TMDC on SOI. Studied persistent photoelectric current in inverted MoS₂-Gr heterostructure and single photon detection.

Bachelor's Thesis: Exploring Electronic Properties of tBL Graphene

Advisor: Prof. Chandni Usha, Instrumental and Applied Physics, IISc

Fabricated twisted bilayer graphene device for tunneling measurements. Performed transport measurements at 100 K and found the twist angle between the graphene layers in the device to be small as the resistance doesn't change on varying displacement field. This is due to the formation of topologically protected one dimensional conduction channels. Followed the experimental developments in the field of graphene twistronics through literature. BS Thesis: Google Drive Link.

Summer Project: Quantum Field Theory

Advisor: Prof. Baladitya Suri, Instrumental and Applied Physics, IISc

Studied basics of Quantum Field Theory including quantisation of Dirac Field and Electromagnetic Field. Carried out calculations involving quantised fermionic and bosonic fields, particularly the differential cross section for Compton scattering. Project Report: Google Drive Link.

Summer Project: Mate Choice Experiment in Ropalidia marginata

Advisor: Prof. Raghavendra Gadagkar, Ecological Sciences, IISc

Experimented on Ropalidia marginata wasps to find out whether male wasps show any preference when given a choice between virgin and mated females, and find out statistically whether the preference is by chance or by the choice of the male. It was seen that males chose virgin females which can be explained by the fact that mated females store sperm from the previous male in their spermathecae.

Competition: iGEM (International Genetically Engineered Machine)

IISc UG iGEM 2018

The team received a gold medal in the iGEM International Jamboree of which I was a part of the Design Team that worked on designing website and brochures. The project called PhageShift was aimed at engineering a phage that is less prone to become obsolete due to bacterial resistance. Project Website: iGEM IISc team page.