Radio Physics lab conducts experiments for MSc students of SSPU, Radio Astronomy Winter School (RAWS), Vacation Students' Programme (VSP) and refresher course programme every year.
Affordable Small Radio Telescope (ASRT) is small radio telescope can be build at affordable price at home. A method to design a low cost portable radio telescope has been shown, This will help students interested in Radio astronomy to make a telescope of there own and use to do small experiment on radio astronomy. This can be used to observe sun and satellites, as it operates in 12 GHz to 18 GHz. Though the system is not very precise, but things can be improved by doing away with low cost.
The polarization of light is quite frequently observed in nature and with other properties like amplitude, frequency and phase of an Electromagnetic (EM) wave, it constitutes one of the most fundamental quantities, which completely describes it. In Physics and Optics, the polarization of light is studied through ”Faraday Rotation Effect” using optical materials like glass, crystals, chemicals etc.
The 21 cm hydrogen line is a spectral line emitted by atomic hydrogen. Since hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, this makes the hydrogen line a very important line in radio astronomy. A horn antenna was designed for detecting this line from our galaxy. A major limitation of radio astronomy is noise, either man-made or naturally occurring. Hence we require new techniques to reduce noise from our detector. The horn antenna is a high performance, high gain and low noise antenna specially designed for detection of 21 cm hydrogen line. The antenna is able to pick up radiation from the hydrogen clouds in our galaxy while suppressing terrestrial interferences due to the low side lobes of the antenna. The antenna is easy to handle and is superior to a parabolic dish in terms of noise performance.
Noise fundamental experiment is one of the most important tools to study noise in any electronic system and instrument. The noise present in all electronic signals limits the sensitivity of many measurements. The thermal noise generated by a resistor at room temperature or the shot noise in diode and transistor can be studied by using this experiment. You can see noise on the display of an oscilloscope and also play with it by changing parameter of noise like temperature and bandwidth.
The cosmic ray muon detector (CRMD) is a particle detector which can detect and observe by-products of cosmic ray particles which were created and accelerated by very violent mechanisms in the universe. The CRMD at IUCAA Radio physics lab is one of its kind and was built in 2011 by bachelor level students. It is the only detector of its type running in entire ASIA. The material to build the detector was imported from FERMILAB (USA). This detector is used to take readings of constant muon flux and determine mean muon lifetime. It is quite a rich experiment as it enables students to not only study astroparticle physics but also quite a lot about nuclear and particle physics in general. Mean muon lifetime also serves as a test for Einstein’s special theory of relativity.
"If you call failures experiments, you can put them in your resume and claim them as achievements."
"I tried out various experiments described in treatises on physics and chemistry, and the results were sometimes unexpected. At times, I would be encouraged by a little unhoped-for success; at others, I would be in the deepest despair because of accidents and failures resulting from my inexperience."
"Life is not easy for any of us. But what of that? We must have perseverance and above all confidence in ourselves. We must believe that we are gifted for something and that this thing must be attained."
"A scientist in his laboratory is not a mere technician: he is also a child confronting natural phenomena that impress him as though they were fairy tales"