RA/VSPs

Akshai Christy Jacob (RA)

Akshai completed his Master’s degree in Physics from St. Joseph College, Bangalore, and his Master’s thesis is based on one- and two-photon fluorescence spectroscopy of dye molecules using femtosecond lasers. Before joining LASE as RA in January 2025, he was a VSP at the Ultrafast and Nonlinear Optics Lab, RRI, and worked on laser-produced plasmas, photoacoustic spectroscopy, and automation. He works on the automation and control of high harmonic generation experiments and is expected to complete his term in January 2026.

Soorya Vinod R. K. (RA)

Soorya completed her Master's degree in Physics from the Cochin University of Science and Technology, Kochi, Kerala. She worked at the Ultrashort Pulse High Intensity Laser Laboratory (UPHILL), TIFR Mumbai under Prof. G. Ravindra Kumar for her master's thesis titled "Doppler Shift Spectrometry of Laser-Induced Plasmas: A Comparative Study Using 800 nm and Upconverted 400 nm Pump Pulses". She joined LASE in January 2025 as a VSP to work on double pulse plasma experiments. After completing her tenure as a visiting student in July 2025, she is now working as a research assistant at LASE. She is expected to complete in August 2026.

Anurag Choudhary (RA)

Anurag completed his Master's degree in Physics from the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-Delhi) and has a Bachelor's degree in Physics from the Atma Ram Sanatan Dharma College, affiliated to the University of Delhi. His Master's thesis titled "Ultrafast heat diffusion dynamics in thin films" at IIT-Delhi under Dr Sunil Kumar mapped the transient femtosecond-scale heat diffusion dynamics upon femtosecond laser excitation. He joined LASE on 01 September 2025 to work on experiments involving the investigation of chirality of molecules using femtosecond pulses as well as to work in the development of the upcoming high-harmonics beamline. He is expected to complete his tenure on 31 August 2026.

Hemanth Jijo (VSP)

Hemanth is a final year Integrated M.Sc (Physics) student at the Institute for Integrated Programmes and Research in Basic Sciences (IIRBS), Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. He joined LASE in April 2025 to work on investigating molecular chirality using ultrashort pulses, in partial fullfilment of his Master's thesis. He is expected to complete in October 2025.