Principal Investigator
Dr. Bhuvanesh Ramakrishna
Doctorate in plasma physics with expertise in intense laser-plasma interaction, possesses leadership skills and experience of setting up experiments at different international laser labs.
- Designation
- Professor
- Address
- PH-204, Department of Physics
Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad
Kandi, Sangareddy - 502284
Telangana, India - Phone
- 040 2301 6712
- bhuvan@phy.iith.ac.in
Education
PhD
Dec 2009The Queen’s University of Belfast, United Kingdom.
Thesis title: Production and Transport of Energetic Particles in Ultra-Intense Laser-Plasma Interaction.
Supervised by Prof. Marco Borghesi & Prof. Matthew Zepf.
M.Sc in Solid State Physics (Distinction)
2004Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
B.Sc in Physics (First class)
2002Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Professional experience
Professor
Apr 2025 – presentDepartment of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana, India
Associate Professor
Sep 2020 – Apr 2025Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana, India
Assistant Professor
Jun 2015 – Sep 2020Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad, Kandi, Sangareddy, Telangana, India
Assistant Professor
Aug 2014 – May 2015Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal (IISERB), Madhya Pradesh, India
Ramanujan Fellow
Jan 2013 – Aug 2014Laser plasma Division, Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore, India
Postdoctoral Fellow
Apr 2011 – Dec 2012Institute of Radiation Physics, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf, Germany.
Postdoctoral Fellow (SFI Fellowship)
Jan 2010 – Mar 2011School of Physics, University College Dublin, Ireland.
Experimental expertise
- Setting up and performing experiments in the Vulcan Petawatt target area at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, Oxfordshire.
- Installing and commissioning the 30 TW TARANIS laser facility at Queen’s University Belfast.
- Setting up simultaneous registration of MeV ions and XUV spectra on a single shot, commissioned at the MBI laser facility, Germany.
- Planning and performing laser-plasma interaction experiments with solid, water spray and novel sandwich or structured targets relevant to fast ignition.
- Studying ultrafast phenomena using proton probing and X-ray diffraction.
- Initiating intense laser-plasma experiments at the terawatt laser facility at University College Dublin.
- Setting up high harmonic generation from colliding plasmas.
- Isochoric heating in buried layer targets for enhanced neutron production.
- Laser-induced proton irradiation experiments on cancer cells.
- Nuclear physics studies using laser-driven particle sources.
- Initiating ion acceleration experiments at the RRCAT 100 TW laser facility, Indore.
- Setting up the TW laser lab at IIT Hyderabad.
Professional activities
- Lectures and invited talks at many international conferences.
- Proposal reviewer for the National Science Foundation (USA), EPSRC (UK), the Czech Science Foundation and the Department of Science and Technology, India.
- Journal reviewer for Applied Physics Letters, Physical Review Letters, Physics of Plasmas, IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, Laser and Particle Beams and others.
- Convener, Indo-Japan Accelerator School 2019, IIT Hyderabad.
- Co-convener, National Laser Symposium 2018 and Ultrafast Sciences conference.
- Co-guided one PhD student during tenure at RRCAT-DAE (thesis submitted May 2019).
- More than ₹3.4 crore in research funding from DST and DAE grants.
Scholarships, awards and honours
- Overseas Research Scholarship for PhD
- National Merit Scholarship
- State Merit Scholarship
- SFI Postdoctoral Award, Ireland
- Helmholtz Association Postdoctoral Fellowship
- DST Ramanujan Fellowship, 2013–2018
- UKRI Peer Review College member
- DAE Science Council member
- Royal Society Award
- IUSSTF Professorship
Memberships
- Member, American Physical Society
- Associate Member, Institute of Physics
- Life Member, Indian Laser Association
Research projects
| Project | Funding agency | Role | Period |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra intense laser plasma interaction | DST Ramanujan Fellowship | PI | 2013–18 |
| Multi Petawatt laser plasma interaction: a new frontier in physics | DST-YSS | PI | 2016–18 |
| Heating in buried layer targets | DST-DAAD | PI | 2015–17 |
| Diagnostic development for laser plasma | SFS-DAE | PI | 2015–18 |
| New generation photonic crystals | DST-WoS | PI | 2019–21 |
| Proton beam therapy for cancer treatment | NPDF | Co-PI | 2017–19 |
| Biocompatible gold nanoparticles for proton beam therapy | DBT-RA | Co-PI | 2019–21 |
| Laser driven proton sources for cancer therapy | IMPRINT | PI | 2019–21 |
| Liposome gold nanoparticles for cancer therapy | DBT | Co-PI | 2019–21 |
| Newton Bhabha funding | DST | PI | – |
| Travel grants | INSA-RSE, APS, DAE | PI | Travel awards |
Conferences and invited talks
- Jan 2019HEDP Meeting, Hirschegg, Austria
- 2018National Laser Symposium 2018, RRCAT Indore, India
Invited talk
- 2018Ultrafast Sciences 2018, RRCAT Indore, India
Invited talk
- Jan 2017HEDP Meeting, Hirschegg, Austria
Invited talk
- Oct 201658th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, San Jose, USA
Invited talk
- May 2016Recent Advances in Optical Sciences, Hyderabad, India
Invited talk
- Mar 2016Newton Bhabha Workshop on High Field Science
Invited talk
- 2016Conference on High Intensity Lasers Interaction (CHILI 2016), Israel
Invited talk
- 2014ICUIL 2014, Goa, India
Talk/presentation
- Jan 2014National Laser Symposium (NLS 22), Manipal, India
Invited talk “Laser driven fusion and proton probing”
- Sep 2013International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications, Osaka, Japan
Talk “Ion acceleration activity at RRCAT, India”
- Sep 2013Laser Plasma Accelerator Workshop, Goa, India
Talk “Plasma sheath perturbation instabilities in laser plasma interaction”
- Oct 201254th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Talk “Electron transport and instabilities in laser plasma interaction”
- May 2012International Conference on Direct Drive and Fast Ignition Workshop, Prague
Talk “New developments in the field of fast ignition and electron transport”
- Sep 2011International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications
Poster “Techniques on electron beam collimation for fast ignition”
- Jun 2011International Workshop on Warm Dense Matter, Pacific Grove, California, and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
Invited talk “Usefulness of proton beams for warm dense matter”
- Nov 201052nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, Chicago, USA
Poster “Fast electron collimation in resistivity boundary targets”
- Jun 2010European Physical Society 37th Conference on Plasma Physics, Dublin, Ireland
Talk “Laser driven fast electron collimation in resistivity boundary targets”
- Dec 2009Christmas Meeting of the High Power Laser Science Community, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
Talk “Laser driven electron collimation from structured targets”
- 2009IOP in Ireland Spring Weekend Meeting 2009
Poster (won a poster prize) “Ultra intense laser matter interaction”
- 20092nd International Conference on Ultra Intense Laser Interaction Science (ULIS 2009)
Talk “Laser driven ion acceleration from water spray targets”
- Dec 2008Christmas Meeting of the High Power Laser Science Community, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
Talk “Modelling proton probing of femtosecond laser propagation through underdense plasma”
- 2008IOP Plasma Physics Conference 2008 (37th Annual Meeting)
Poster “Electron transport phenomena in foam targets”
- Apr 2008International Conference on HEDP/HEDLA-08, April Meeting of the American Physical Society, St. Louis, USA
Poster “Propagation of relativistic electrons in low density foam targets”
- Dec 2007Christmas Meeting of the High Power Laser Science Community, Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, UK
Poster “Ultra-intense laser matter interaction with foam targets”