Arijit Sharma did his Bachelors (Physics Hons.) at the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math, Howrah under the University of Calcutta in 2003. He completed his Masters in Physics in 2005 at IIT Kanpur. He received his PhD in Physics (April 2013) from the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India for his experimental work investigating atom cavity interactions in hot and cold atomic vapors at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India working under Prof. Sadiqali Rangwala. He is credited with building experiments from scratch for his phd work. He also demonstrated an all optical switch using room temperature atomic vapor. Thereafter he moved to do his first postdoc at the University Paris 13 (by virtue of a IFRAF grant) investigating spin and magnetization dynamics of ultra-cold Chromium atoms in 3 dimensional optical lattices. He subsequently had two more postdoctoral stints at the Center for Quantum Technologies, NUS, Singapore and at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, UK.

Since October 2018, Arijit has joined as Asst. Professor at the Department of Physics, IIT Tirupati and is spearheading research activities in experimental atomic, molecular and optical physics through his Precision Measurements Lab at IIT Tirupati. Till very recently he was employed as a postdoctoral research fellow with Prof. Dr. Dmitry Budker's group at the Helmholtz Institut Mainz at the Johannes Gutenberg Universität, Mainz, Germany. Here he is developing an experiment that allows for dark matter (DM) searches through Isotope Shifts (IS) spectroscopy on dysprosium (Dy) atoms at the sub-Hz level. He is also leading studies on atomic parity violation (APV) using an atomic beam of dysprosium (Dy).

He has over 12 years of experience in the design and testing of precision optics and lasers (UV to IR). He is also highly experienced in frequency metrology, precision spectroscopy, laser cooling, ion trapping and applications of quantum technologies. He is looking forward towards developing an experimental lab in AMO physics at IIT Tirupati that challenges the mind and provides students and researchers with an opportunity to engage in exciting problems in optics, lasers, photonics and develop innovative solutions to fundamental problems in these domains. His list of publications is given here. His detailed CV can be found here.

A brief background of his educational and research experience is given below:

Education:

• August 2005 - May 2012: Ph.D. in Physics at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore, India under Prof. Sadiq Rangwala. PhD Thesis: Atom cavity interactions with hot and cold atomic vapors (degree awarded by Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India). Thesis defended in February 2013.

• August 2003 - June 2005: Master of Science in Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. Masters Thesis (Experimental Research): Synthesis Of Carbon Nanotubes by Plasma-Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition. Specialization: Low temperature physics, physics of low dimensional materials.

• July 2001-July 2003: Bachelor of Science (Hons.) in Physics with minor in Mathematics, Chemistry at the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Belur Math, West Bengal, India under University of Calcutta, West Bengal, India.

Previous Research Experience:

• July 2017 - October 2018: Postdoctoral fellow in the Matter Anti-Matter section led by Prof. Dr. Dmitry Budker at the Helmholtz-Institut Mainz, Johannes Gutenberg Universtät, Mainz, Germany.

• June 2015 - June 2017: Research fellow in the ITCM group led by Prof. Dr. Matthias Keller at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, Brighton, United Kingdom.

• April 2015 -April 2015: Visiting Researcher in the Quantum Interactions Lab at the Light And Matter Physics (LAMP) group led by Prof. Dr. Sadiq Rangwala at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, India.

• September 2013 - December 2014: Research fellow in the group led by Prof. Dr. Murray Barrett at the Center for Quantum Technologies (CQT), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore.

• June 2012 - June 2013: Postdoctoral fellow in the Dipolar Quantum Gases group led by Prof. Dr. Olivier Gorceix and Dr. Bruno Laburthe-Tolra at the Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, Université Paris XII, Villetaneuse, France.

• August 2005 - May 2012: Research Fellow (graduate student) in the Quantum Interactions Lab at the Light And Matter Physics (LAMP) group led by Prof. Dr. Sadiq Rangwala at the Raman Research Institute, Bengaluru, India.

• October 2009 - December 2009: Exchange Research Student in the group led by Prof. Dr. Dmitry Budker at the Department of Physics, UC Berkeley, CA, USA.

• June 2005 - July 2005: Summer Research Fellow in the group led by Prof. Dr. Ajay K. Sood at the Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru, India.