Department of Physics, Ramsaday College

ABOUT US

'Veni, Vidi, Vici'. The moment we are launched on the surface of Mother Earth, still soaked in the inertia of the unknown, lubricated with the cosy smells of our Mothers' wombs and performing small oscillations in our little cradles, the traveller in us starts walking randomly on the 3-Dimensional plane of life. In a quest to comprehend the crests and troughs of the evolution of the Universe with time, the Ulysses in us, as lucidly painted in the words of Tennyson, strives 'to seek, to find and not to yield'. As we stand witness to the wheel of life going to the (n+1)-th turn from the n-th, we realise that every 'why's and 'how's performing total internal reflection in the deepest corners of our minds, finds answer in the realm of Physics. It is like the first ray of sunshine equipped with weapons of conservation laws, equations of motion and symmetries, to battle out the darkness of ignorance in our minds.

As the Robinson Crusoe in us starts exploration, the Department of Physics, Ramsaday College, welcomes all of you to this voyage of bathing in the spectrum of the Milky Way of Physics. Set in the latitudes and longitudes of Amta, Ramsaday College was established in the year 1946, to add 'the degree of freedom' to the constrained wings of dreams of the rural residents. Their geographical distance of 50 kms from the city of joy undoubtedly shoved their dreams light years away from achieving the desired 'escape velocity'. This college intended to pull them out from this black hole of tears.

Physics was affiliated as a subject in 1950 in the 2-year I.Sc. course under University of Calcutta. Later, in 1956, it obtained affiliation in the CU 2-year B.Sc. pass course. With gradual advent over the years, in the year 1968, the 3-year B.Sc. Honours course in Physics, registered under University of Calcutta, obtained affiliation. Mr. B. B. Bhowmik, the then Secretary and Representative of the founder family, who himself was also a renowned scholar in Physics, introduced the Physics Honours course in 1968. Since then, the Department of Physics, Ramsaday College, has put forth a glorious journey over the years. As time witnessed a new leaf, the Department has nested many students, who, under the guidance of distinguished Professors, have successfully coloured the spectrums of their lives, and today are prestigiously co-ordinated at different meridians.

From 2018, adhering to the CBCS system of subject layout, the syllabus is distributed in the 6-semester framework. Along with a detailed illustrative analysis of the subject, an intricate study of the Python programming language built step-by-step with progress in semesters, helps the students to carve the computational phase diagrams in their minds. The elaborate laboratory set-up which covers a vast expanse of the first floor of the heritage building, aids students to master their culinary skills to get the practical flavour of every chapter studied in theory.

There is a wide spectrum of research activities carried out by the faculties of the Department. Starting from Monte Carlo simulations of liquid crystals and spin systems to theoretical investigations of ion/atom-molecule collisions at intermediate and high energies from eV to MeV, there are varied research interests brewing their minds. Calculations of double differential ionization, excitation charge transfer cross-section data for monoatomic, diatomic and polyatomic molecules juxtaposed with comparison to experiments; study of strongly correlated systems, magnetic and transport properties of rare earth and transition metal oxide compounds, exotic quantum phases of matter such as topological insulator, Weyl semi-metal, spin liquid, synthesis and characterisation of oxide and sulphide-based nanostructural semiconductors (ZnO, CuO, Cu2O, NiO, CdS etc.) in thin film form for various optoelectronic applications like solar cells, light emitting diodes, photo-electrochemical water splitting, analysis of 2D materials for various opto-electronic applications, Perovskite quantum dot and its applications, study of exotic systems supposedly present in the early stages of the Universe, using Quantum Chromodynamics, are some of the research arenas delved by the faculties of this Department.

A number of outreach programmes are conducted by the department to build a collaborative exchange of thoughts and ideas which will help the students and teachers to inflate their mental horizon. A one-day webinar on 'Online Teaching and Learning' had been organised on 31st August, 2020 by the Head of the Department Dr. Abhoy Mondal, also convened by Mr. Sampad Mondal and Dr. Sudipa Upadhaya, where Prof. Ananda Dasgupta from Department of Physical Sciences, IISER Kolkata and Dr. Tilak Sinha from Department of Physics, Narasinha Dutt College provided a strategic insight into the topic. Soon after, another webinar on 'Recent Research and opportunities in the Field of Renewable Energy Sources' was organised by Dr. Sukdeb Dolai and Mr. Mrinal Kanti Debnath, on 26th September, 2020, where Dr. Praveen Kumar, Assistant Professor, school of Material Science, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata and Dr. Chiranjib Nayek, Founding Director, Orrand Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Alien Solar), Co-founder and CEO, Alienion Technologies Pvt. Ltd. (Alenion), Kolkata, guided a systematic overview on the very relevant topic of current times. Successful completion of both the webinars was possible with extensive efforts of the faculties of the Department Dr. Abhoy Mondal, Mr. Sampad Mondal, Mr. Mrinal Kanti Debnath, Dr. Sukdeb Dolai, Dr. Sudipa Upadhaya, Mr. Sujit Das, Mr. Sumit Kumar Chakraborty, Mr. Tanmoy Maity and Miss Karabi Chatterjee. A 30-day Python coding course for beginners, during 16th August to 19th October 2021 was conducted by the Department in collaboration with SIAS Research Forum, where Dr. Abhoy Mondal, Head of the Department was the convenor. The students were provided a brilliant opportunity where using the platform of Spoken Tutorial, in collaboration with IIT Bombay, they availed an online Python course, organised by Dr. Sudipa Upadhaya. Ramsaday College has recently been enlisted as a Nodal centre in the Virtual Laboratory programme, an initiative of Ministry of Education under the National Mission on Education through ICT. This is a collaborative undertaking of a number of prestigious Institutes like Amrita University, IIT Delhi, IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay and others. Dr. Nababrata Ghoshal and Dr. Sudipa Upadhaya are the nodal co-ordinators. This platform is highly beneficial to obtain a flavour of the experimental results, even when confined within the walls of a room and unable to get the opportunity for a hands-on experience.

The Department houses a vast galaxy of various learning resources; 3 laboratories, 1 departmental computer centre, a departmental library in addition to the central library, and access to internet at the departmental computer lab, which provide completeness to the learning process and give students the opportunity to procure necessary tools required to carve a complete niche.

It often becomes essential to listen to acoustics of the heart and gather those notes essential to resonate our inner beings. In the words of Albert Einstein, 'I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music'. Also, a relation between a student and a teacher can never be confined to the syllabus book alone. Keeping in mind the same, the students and teachers of this Department engage in collaborative cultural programmes to give rhythm to the academic development, to delve in overall growth of one's inner being. And as the American author Tony Robbins said 'The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.' Here, in this family of the Department of Physics, we, the students and teachers together intend to erase all apparent impossibilities and paint the skyline of our dreams vividly with a bright spectrum of achievement.

Mission

 •  Adhering to the CBCS pattern of Under-graduate studies framed by University Grants Commission, we aim for a thorough intricate study of the subject, delving into its folds layer by layer.
 •  Getting the opportunity to study Science in the latitudes of a semi-urban area is a dream to many students. We, members of the Department of Physics, Ramsaday College aim to give their wings the desired escape velocity so that they can get freed from the constraints of rigidity and achieve the desired.
 •  Physics is not a subject to study, rather, not a subject to only study. Seeing and feeling the beauties of Physics unfold, is something to be perceived and felt, without which the study definitely remains incomplete. Here, we try to put life into the brick and mortar of the syllabus by inculcating various modes of study, not keeping restricted to only chalk and talk method of teaching.
 •  We indulge in interactive modes often so that the listener is an equally important torch-bearer of the scenario and is free to put forth her/his point of view on the same. This ignites their channels of thought.
 •  Bringing in seminar modes of discussions by the students on few selected topics gives the confidence to speak on the other side of the table when the situation calls for.
 •  We have arranged various webinars, seminars and workshops to provide the best possible platform for exchange of scientific ideas, which will bloom the thinking buds of everyone.
 •  We have various cross-departmental activities which boosts further scientific growth. Also, a significant number of inter-college activities as well as workshop with the neighbouring schools are held for students' active participation.

Vision

 •  We visualize an over-all development of the learner so that the knowledge does not remain subject oriented only.
 •  We envisage to enable the learner to acquire a suitable sensibility of the subject so he/she can develop a fair understanding of the Physics within and beyond curriculum.
 •  Though this undergraduate course is restricted to six semesters, we wish to equip the student to be placed at a good topological position for a smooth pathway towards a brighter future.
 •  With a team equipped to address various regimes of the subject and also indulging in scientific activities, theoretically, experimentally as well as phenomenologically, we try to give the students the scientific flavor from every possible aspect.
 •  We do not visualize to keep our discussions confined into the square root area of our department only. Inter departmental and inter college activities for students are planned to further boost up their confidence and thereby widening their genre of activity.
 •  The collaboration with IIT Mumbai from the platform of Spoken Tutorial and Virtual Laboratory with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, both envisioned during the COVID-confined days helped us to get the flavor of different intricacies of the subject even within the boundaries of our homes.