Recent News
Updates on group activity
Oct-16, 2026: Anindita received a 3-year JST-LOTUS ASPIRE fellowship at Kyushu University, Japan. This will open up microscopy opportunities at The Ultramicroscopy Research Centre. Happy Beamtime!
Oct-2, 2026: Ahin receives the Excellence in Microscopy Award from the Electron Microscope Society of India. Now that the machines are in place at Kharagpur, hope we do some meaningful work here.
Sep-30, 2026: We used our SATHI HRTEM machine as a testbed! Prof. Lewys Jones and Dr. Jonathan Peters from Trinity College Dublin came over with their newly developed BF detector, along with the electron-counting detector PULSE. Stuff worked smoothly, and it was great catching up with old friends. AND YES, WE DON'T INTEND TO USE OUR ELECTRON MICROSCOPES ONLY FOR "PICTURES"!!!
Aug-1, 2026: Manisha did an internship in our group in summer this year, working on electronic structure simulations in molecular systems and transport simulations in 2D materials. The collaborative simulation paper with Prof. Rajat Kumar Das is out, and the other one is being drafted - highly productive internship indeed! She has also joined back our group as a joint research scholar with Prof. Indranath Chakraborty. Welcome to the group, and we wish you a productive and fun time with us.
July-2026: We have established a small cluster facility (ARVAT) at the Materials Science Centre. This is primarily aimed at simulations covered in the Computational Materials Science Course taught by Ahin in Autumn. A great thing is that, from 2026, credit-bearing students will run their own simulations. This will enable them to run larger simulations in the NSM flagship Paramshakti Facility of IIT Kharagpur.
Mar-19, 2026: Collaborative work with Prof. Indranath Chakraborty's group goes on the cover of Small Structures. Congratulations to the team and Pijush from our group for the simulations.
May-22, 2025: Collaborative research with the Mahanty group is featured on the cover of the Journal of Physical Chemistry C. Our simulations showed that Baeyer-Villiger oxidation can proceed with adsorbed oxygen on Cu; lattice oxygen from Cu2O is not required. The predicted intermediate also matched experiment. Congratulations to Pijush and the whole team!
December-31, 2024: Dileshwari joins the group as a Ph. D student after her Masters from IIT Dhanbad. A warm welcome and best wishes from all of us!
July-22, 2024: Anindita joins the group back as a Ph. D student. A warm welcome back and wishes for all the success!
Jan-21, 2024: Some of the group members went for a trip to Bishnupur, the temple town close to Kharagpur. On the left, from L-R: Ajoy, Anindita and Gyan, Pijush is sitting in the front. On the right, from L-R: Pijush Anindita and Ajoy, Gyan is sitting in the front. Ahin clicked both the snaps!
Jan-2, 2022: Ahin moves to Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur to join as an Asst. Professor in Materials Science Centre. Along with the rich history, the cool-looking architechture render the campus absolutely gorgeous. Looking forward to the coming days!
Dec-15, 2021: Symmetries in crystals have a lovely way of expressing themselves in electron microscopy - here is an example from recent STEM imaging. The STAR is a coloured FFT of a defocused STEM probe on [111]-oriented hematite in an FEI TITAN 300 kV. This was selected as the Image of the Month from Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, Trinity College Dublin. This is third one in 2021, and feels so apt to set the mood for Christmas! (See the tweet here)
Aug-3, 2021: Do you always need an aberration-corrected microscope to look at materials at atomic resolution? The answer is NO, if you align your microscope well! Here goes an example: inter-phase interface in WO3 imaged in uncorrected TITAN at 300 kV. This one was selected as the Image of the Month from Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, Trinity College Dublin. Me and Lucia synthesized the sample and did the imaging. The interface does look good! (See the tweet here)
Jul-1, 2021: Spectrum imaging of Ti-alloyed BaMnO3 using HAADF-STEM and EELS in Nion UltraSTEM-200 was selected as Image of the Month from Advanced Microscopy Laboratory, Trinity College Dublin. Lucia, me and Clive - all from AML, carried out the experiment. The map does look cool! (See the tweet here)
Jan-1, 2021: Somewhat tough 2020 came to an end. Collaborative papers on FeS2 (ACS Nano), MoS2/h-BN heterostructure (ACS Nano), Flurophosphates (ACS Catalysis), WS2 (ACS Applied Nano Materials) and a few more went through this year. Wishes for a better 2021!
Jan-10, 2020: Oral presentation at Microscopy Society of Ireland symposium on phase transformation and intercalation in WO3 at Trinity College, Dublin. (Picture courtesy: @NicolosiGroup twitter)
Oct-17, 2019: Collaborative Paper with Dr. Noopur Jain on reduced-SrTiO3-supported PtCu Nanoparticles for PrOx (preferential oxidation) of CO gets accepted in Nanoscale: microscopy came handy to look at catalysts, and we really had long debates on the control experiments on mechanism of the reactions - and that was probably best part of it (apart from the good day of the microscopy data!)
Aug-16, 2019: The second spell of IISc comes to an end - moved to Trinity College Dublin. While I am going to miss the flowered alleys of IISc and my me-time in hills surrounding Bangalore, Trinity does look stunning at first glance as-well on a sunny Saturday!
June-8, 2019: First invited talk at Electron Microscopy And Allied Techniques- (EMAAT), at Shimla, Himachal Pradesh, India! Sadly, state-of-the art electron microscopy is still is at its infancy in India. Along with not-so-much microscopy, had a happy tour across Shimla. On the left, a snap with near the statue of Late Gen. Manekshaw, an eternal inspiration!
Dec-19, 2018: First paper with Rajeev is out in Nanoscale! This SnSe2-based photodetection combines synthesis, DFT and device application. My contribution was the rationalzation of the growth through DFT simulations. However, endless number of coffees with Rajeev for discussion was the actual fun!