PREFACE

The Department of Science & Technology has been promoting research in frontier and emerging areas through the Science & Engineering Research Council (SERC). SERC is composed of eminent scientists, professionals and technologists drawn from various universities, national laboratories and industries, and is assisted by a large number of Programme Advisory Committees (PACs) in various disciplines. SERC has evolved, over the years, a unique peer-review system which has been well-recognised by the scientific community. It has helped in promoting and strengthening several new areas of research and established a large number of national research facilities, core groups/centres. It has also endeavoured to strengthen the research capabilities of relatively small and less-endowed universities/departments to raise their research activities beyond the critical level.

The Council recently reviewed its activities and areas of research which were identified some time back and decided to undate those areas for future support. Under the overall supervision and guidance of the SERC, PACs in various disciplines were requested to prepare a state-of-the-art document called "Vision for R&D" reflecting new challenges for the scientific community, national facilities to be set up including new ways and mechanisms for their promotion.
Against this background are the Department of Science & Technology has decided to give wider publicity to these newly selected areas with a view to promote them in future. This document "Vision for R&D in Physical Sciences" is for those who are interested in vigorously pursuing research in Physical Sciences. It is hoped that this document would be useful to the scientific community in planning their future research activities.

INTRODUCTION

As mentioned in the Preface, the task of identifying the new thrust of challenging areas, at the frontiers of Physical Sciences, was assigned to various Programme Advisory Committees. They were also requested to highlight the strategies to be adopted in raising the activities in the country in these chosen areas including establishment of new facilities and adoption of new management structures.

All the PACs contacted a large number of active workers in their area and organized special brain-storming meetings to arrive at the recommendations contained in the following pages. While there were some subject-specific recommendations, there were also some other recommendations which cut across various disciplines in Physical Sciences. We have listed the subject-specific recommendations first, followed by the general recommendations.
All PACs, at the very outset, have emphasized that any such listing of ‘thrust’ or ‘challenging’ areas should not in any way prejudice consideration of individual research proposals which should always be judged purely on their merit. Secondly, any attempt to identify narrow thrust areas could be self-defeating in case some dramatic and totally unexpected developments take place in that field (as for example happened with the discovery of high Tc Superconductivity).

In listing out the thrust areas, the following points have been kept in mind –

CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

Introduction

There has been an explosion of activity in Condensed Matter and Materials Science in the last few decades. This area has emerged as a major source of basic phenomena, new devices and indeed much of physical science-based technology, present and future. This growth has been fuelled by discovery and development of new kinds of materials, unusual phenomena in them, novel instrumentation, and devices based on them. The field is interdisciplinary cutting across physics, chemistry, materials science, chemical engineering, electrical communication and device engineering etc. It is also rich in contributing basic ideas to a number of scientific and technological fields. Our investment in this broad field has been haphazard, subcritical in size and insufficient in quality.

The field of condensed matter physics/materials science needs a several fold increased in sustained support, for the following reasons :

The number of areas which fall under this broad umbrella is large. While any good proposal in any area of research needs to be supported, it was felt that one should focus on a few selected areas for which additional investment is specially required in the 9th plan period.

International Scene

It will be impossible even to outline the current developments in research worldwide in condensed matter physics as this covers a wide area of activity. Here we will limit ourselves to some pointers which will influence the choice of thrust areas in this document.

National Scene

In the area of soft condensed matter there are a few groups working in the country on a very limited set of systems and phenomena. These groups are in Indian Institute of Science and the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, the IGCAR, Kalpakkam, BARC, Mumbai and in the University of Bhavnagar. Each group is small in size and is ill-equipped to carry out comprehensive studies. Still the groups have managed to develop some expertise and make some useful contributions. It is necessary to enlarge these groups and provide them with much needed facilities to be described below.

In the field of engineered quantum structures, there are a few groups with MOCVD/MBE equipment with the capability of making such systems in a very limited fashion. The work in this area is being done at TIFR, Mumbai, the Solid State Physics Laboratory at Delhi and at IISc., Bangalore. IIT, Chennai has a MBE unit with limited capabilities. However, the cost of maintaining these units is prohibitive and this prevents the optimal utilization of these units. There are not enough competent and trained technical staff to keep these units running. The amount of research work in this area is incommensurate with the importance of the subject and the size of our country.

Work on Kondo systems and heavy Fermion superconductors is mainly done at TIFR, Mumbai. Systematic work on electron tunneling and transport properties in some strongly correlated oxide systems has been done in IISc, Bangalore. However, single crystals of the intermetallics and oxide materials of the required quality is not being grown anywhere in this country. While many groups are working on high temperature superconductors, the work is mainly on transport and magnetic properties. In many cases, the experimental work lacks in quality. To understand the strongly correlated electron systems, comprehensive measurements including optical absorption and scattering, specific heat, magneto-resistance and Hall effect are also important and these measurements have to be done at low temperatures. It is therefore necessary to set up facilities of such studies at low temperatures and high magnetic fields.

Though a few groups have been studying conducting polymers in this country, there is no serious involvement of chemists in thinking up and making new kinds of systems. Only electrical transport measurements are being made on the conducting polymers. There is a need to study carrier generation and recombination induced by light pulses and the effect of blends on the electrical properties of these polymers. There are two or three groups working in molecular electronics. But the effort is minuscule.

The culture of experimentation, materials development and instrumentation is dying in the country and unless serious steps are taken immediately, there will be long-term damage to the health of basic and applied materials-based research as well as development.

There is considerable high level of activity in theoretical condensed matter physics in a few places in this country. Some of this activity overlaps and stimulates experiment. But the interaction between theory and experiment should be closer. The main bottleneck at present is poor infra-structure (computational, library and communication facilities, maintenance and running costs, and general support).

Research work will flourish only if motivated and bright students opt for research. Unfortunately, the quality of students coming out of the universities is not of the required standard. One reason for this may be that the faculty in universities are unable to involve themselves in fruitful research for lack of facilities and convey the excitement of research to the students. It is, therefore, important that new facilities should be located in universities and educational institutions where there is a constant influx of students. There is a necessity for the more-endowed institutions to interact with the faculty of the less-endowed universities and train them in research in frontier areas. This will have a multiplier effect in transplanting new research techniques in the universities.

THRUST AREAS

Some of the thrust areas being recommended for special initiatives are as follows :

Soft Condensed Matter Physics

As mentioned in the section on the national scene, there is a necessity to strengthen the infrastructure for carrying out comprehensive experiments in this area. It is suggested that at least three experimental centres with all necessary facilities be developed in the next five years. These centres would be equipped with facilities such as high resolution X-ray diffractometer (rotating anode with two-dimensional detectors and small angle scattering facilities), viscometers, light scattering set up, imaging microscopes/video cameras, chemistry unit and dielectric measurement facilities.

Another essential need is access to world class synchrotron and neutron facilities in Japan, USA and Europe. This is mentioned separately below, since this need is common to most areas of condensed matter/materials science.

Strongly Correlated Systems (Oxides, Sulfides, Rare Earth and Actinide Intermetallics)

The main shortcomings in these area are : (i) absence of facilities for growing single crystals, (ii) absence of centres where comprehensive measurements can be made, (iii) total lack of certain kinds of facilities (optical property measurements, low temperature and high magnetic field facilities etc.), and (iv) the small scale of effort (lack of quality manpower). Considering all this, we suggest the following :

Conducting Polymer and Molecular Electronics

This is a field where chemists have to take the initiative in thinking up and making new kinds of systems and physicists have to explore their properties. Such composite groups will have to be identified or nucleated, and encouraged. Facilities for the growth, characterization and measurement are needed in several places.

Engineered Quantum Structures

There are 6 MBE units in the country of which three were procured for high temperature superconductivity research (one in IIT, Kharagpur, one in NPL, Delhi and one in BARC, Mumbai). Of the remaining MBE units, there is only one with limited capabilities for semiconductor research in an educational institution (IIT, Chennai). Of the MOCVDs, only one in IISc., Bangalore, is in an educational institution. Prohibitive running and maintenance costs prevent the optimal utilization of the existing units. It may be added that this area is intensive in capital, maintenance costs as well as technical support staff. Due to the technological importance of heterostructurs, it is felt that it is worthwhile to extend operational support to this area. The support will cover the cost of reconditioning and updating some of the existing facilities and providing the running cost and staff support for at least two machines in the next five years and for setting up two new dedicated machines.

Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics

As mentioned earlier, the main bottleneck at present is poor infrastructure (computational, library and communication facilities, maintenance and running costs, and general support). Some of the active groups need to be consolidated and the infrastructure enhanced. They should also play a more active role as national centres. Poor library facilities and paucity of quality information is actually a growing handicap cutting across disciplines.

Additional Support for Condensed Matter/Materials Research in Project Mode

A great strength of condensed matter science is diversity and surprise. Also, a number of fields already active, need highly enhanced support. Examples of the last are ferroelectric thin films, nonlinear optical materials and magnetic systems. Much work in this area is substandard because of low level of support, poor quality manpower etc. We cannot become competitive or useful unless major support, with clear cut expectations and demands is forthcoming.
Access to International Facilities

There are only a few centres in the world with very high level facilities such as neutron beams, synchrotron X-ray sources for structure and photoemission etc. in Japan, Europe and USA. All areas of condensed matter science need them in a major way. Provision should be made for access to such laboratories, payment for beam time, instrumentation development etc.

Strategy to be Adopted

It is clear from the above write-up that the needs of difference areas are very different. For example, there is a need for setting up common expensive facilities such as low temperature high magnetic field facilities, characterization facilities such as HRTEM, Cryo TEM, which should be accessible to any group which may want to use them. In certain areas, individual groups will have to be nucleated and nurtured. So, one needs to have many-pronged strategy which will be adaptable to the specific situation.

We believe that the following three principles need to be followed if this initiative is to meet with success:

It is suggested that a Board of Scientists drawn from different disciplines in condensed matter physics/materials science be constituted under the DST umbrella and charged with the management of the initiative. This Board will decide on a number of questions, e.g., setting up common facilities which can be used by scientists working in different areas, as well as in allocation of funds in different areas for setting up specialized facilities useful in each area and for improving infrastructural facilities. An advisory committee of experts will be set up for each area. The committee for each area will recommend to the Board the nature of specialized facilities to be set up, the location of the facilities and the distribution of funds to the different groups to set up new experiments or to improve their infrastructural facilities. The advisory committee should also monitor the progress.

It is necessary to ensure that cumbersome bureaucratic procedures generally prevalent in all our institutions are circumvented by having a separate administrative cell to look after the needs of the centre. For success in competitive science, a flexible administration and quick decision-making are essential.

PLASMA PHYSICS

International Scene

The international scene in the Plasma Science in general and Controlled Thermonuclear Fusion in particular has undergone a sea change since 1990. The holy goal of economic and cheap fusion power appears closer than ever before. The application of plasma based technologies to industry is continuously increasing and yielding fruitful dividends.

In the last decade several medium and large size tokamaks have appeared on the scene. A steady improvement in plasma performance in fusion relevant parameter space has been obtained. A few big tokamaks are poised for major leap forward. The Deuterium-Tritium operations in Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in USA started in 1994 and since then has been showing very encouraging results in terms of plasma  (the ratio of the plasma pressure to magnetic pressure), confinement of

particles and the record value of the neutron yield. Very recently new regimes of Tokamak operations with negative shear and considerably improved plasma confinement have been discovered in DIII-D and TFTR tokamaks. The Joint European Torus (JET) at Culham, U.K. is poised for the break even which is a first step towards the economic viability of Fusion. In the area of fusion technology, the design of remote handling in D-T operation, Tritium inventory, blanket and first wall components are being actively investigated. The other area which is receiving increasing attention in tokamak research is the steady state operation. Several tokamaks with superconducting coils and auxiliary current drive and heating are being designed to study the plasma performance and behaviour of first wall component under steady state conditions. In the alternative steady state devices, Japan is building a large helical device (LHD), while the Wendelstein VII-A stellerator at Max Plank Institute at Garching, Germany is making steady progress.

Similar scenario exists in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) research. Experiments carried out at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in USA on direct drive ICF targets using NOVA laser facility, the direct drive implosion experiments at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics and GEKKO II at Osaka University have yielded promising results. The program is getting a boost with sanction of National Ignition Facility in USA and upgradation of other facilities towards the achievement of ignition with the direct-drive fusion.

Plasma theory has continued to fascinate theoreticians and has been applied to a wide variety of processes in solar physics, magnetosphere, ionosphere, astrophysics besides the fusion physics. The complexities of the plasma problem has given rise to new modes of joint efforts and collaborations among scientists through formation of task forces etc. The problem of the plasma transport, for example, is being investigated in USA and Europe through various task forces. Rapid progress in computer technology and software engineering has made it possible to do realistic large scale simulations in 2 & 3 dimensional MHD processes. The new and young field of dusty plasma has now come to age. Over past five years several interesting processes like formation of dust crystals have been demonstrated in laboratory. A number of experiments have been conducted in different parts of the world to study the processes of charging of neutral grains in unmagnetised and magnetised plasma environment. Relevance of dusty plasma, processes in several planetary, interplanetary and galactic processes has been established. In the field of single species plasma, interesting set of experiments showing formation of vortex crystal, merger etc. have been conducted. The main thrust in this area seems to explore deeply the isomorphism between 2-d non-neutral plasma and parallel flow in hydrodynamics.

Plasma based technology, on the other hand, has made deep inroads in industrial applications. For instance, it is now fairly established that material processing using high energy content of thermal plasmas is efficient and economically viable. Plasma nitriding technology is being used for tool and surface hardening. Protective coatings and polishing using plasma techniques have been demonstrated and plasma based metallurgy is gaining ground.

In the field of plasma devices, new and efficient electrical switches using E x B plasma flows, and electron beams are being developed. Free electron lasers have attained higher levels of efficiency in terms of monochromaticity and control of radiation. Particle acceleration using strong electrical fields in the plasma has been experimentally demonstrated in UCLA, USA.

National Scene

With the winding up of the Reversed Field Pinch experiment in TIFR in the late sixties, there was a lull in plasma physics activity in the country. Different groups picked up the threads again in the 1970’s. Activities in plasma physics in the country re-started with the Physical Research Laboratory establishing a basic plasma physics programme with strongly interacting theoretical and experimental elements. In BARC, both technologically oriented thermal plasma activities and experimental work in laser plasma interaction started around this period. In the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, the accelerator physics group also broadened their activity to cover basic experimental plasma physics. Work in the universities was primarily centred on theoretical work, although small groups interested in non-linear plasma physics and gaseous electronics existed.

The 1980’s saw major growth in national programmes. The PRL programme grew into the Institute for Plasma Research which established the Aditya tokamak and a broad based activity in basic plasma physics and development of core technologies relevant to fusion and applied plasma physics. The MHD programme at BARC was spun off into BHEL, with emphasis shifting into power generation. The Laser programme grew in terms of laser capability and the sophistication of diagnostics. SINP also established a tokamak experiment based on SINP – Tokamak, a amachine procured from Japan. IIT Delhi started experiments in beam and microwave-plasma interaction and collisional plasmas, while IIT Kanpur grew laser plasma and plasma chemistry activities.

This period also saw the institutionalisation of DST support to plasma physics with the setting up of the Programme Advisory Committee in Plasma Physics. With the active involvement of PAC, institute-university interaction grew. The Satellite Research Projects were established to nucleate and promote plasma physics activity in universities through a proactive mechanism of generation of research proposals and monitoring research progress. The Baroda and Santiniketan workshops helped in consolidating the emergence of a national community in plasma sciences.

The early part of 1990’s, namely the period 1991-95 again saw indications of growth, with the establishment of the research programme for the second generation fusion machine at IPR. This period also saw the beginning of the growth of cross disciplinary plasma science with programme on plasma assisted material processing and free electron laser beginning to be established. The BARC programme also developed more towards plasma processing, while the SINP activities grew in terms of upgrading the plasma parameters and technology. Strong inter-institutional programmes in fusion and plasma applications also grew. The SRP programme was effective in starting plasma-related research in many universities, again with a strong inter-disciplinary thrust.

Thus, at present, a broad-based plasma physics and applications programme has been established in the country, which has been primarily due to the thrust generated by the programmes of the Department of Science and Technology. DST has done a remarkable job of fostering ad promoting plasma science in the country during the past decade or so. Under IRHPA, the Institute for Plasma Research was set up. Under the thrust area programme scheme, many scientific research efforts have been supported. Satellite research programmes have generated new groups, summer schools and workshops have trained young people and participation in national and international conferences have been supported.

THRUST AREAS

Today a qualitatively new scene has emerged, thanks to DST and the country is poised to take up major challenges in plasma science and technology. Major efforts such as the ones being contemplated need to have the support of a very broad-based national R & D programme. This will not only assist the development of the human resources but also generate the essential expertise in many key areas.

At this juncture, it appears that plasma community needs to be strengthened not only by the continued research support in the conventional areas but also by broadening its base by the promotion of the linkages between plasma science & technology and other fields of science and engineering. In the coming decade, DST can thus take up the challenging task of establishing these linkages. This should be easy because plasma science is particularly well suited for promotion of cross-disciplinary research because it directly impacts on many different fields of science and engineering.

To accelerate the pace of growth, while consolidating the present gains, an imaginative programme is critical for the future. However, the following critique of the present also needs to be taken into account in planning for the future.

A silver lining, which has a bearing on the proposals for the future is that cross-disciplinary plasma sciences have grown faster than traditional plasma physics. The traditional plasma science, however, continues to be of great relevance and importance and, though a major thrust in cross-disciplinary areas in being proposed, it is envisaged that the research and development activity in the conventional areas of plasma science, outlined below, will be strengthened by continued support from DST.

Conventional Areas of Plasma Science

Theoretical and experimental research, computer simulations, development of methodologies, tools, diagnostics etc. in the following broad areas of conventional plasma physics should be supported.

Cross Disciplinary Plasma Science

Common areas of interest between plasma physics and other physics disciplines exist and joint research activities in these areas should be supported and encouraged. A major mechanism for such activities could be through interdisciplinary workshops, seminars, summer/winter schools, conferences and support of research. The physics disciplines in which joint activities could be carried out are identified below. Major research community exists in each of these fields within the country.

The potential of the plasma to become excellent tool in material processing derives from some of the exotic properties of the plasma state. Plasma processing has taken roots in the country and is likely to grow because of the strong linkages it has established between disciplines, institutions and industries. It also symbolises the inherent strength of interdisciplinary programmes and their potential to thrive in this country.

Taking into account the strong enabling role of plasmas in physical phenomena of interest to a variety of disciplines, both basic and application-oriented, it is proposed that a major initiative be taken by DST in establishing a cross-disciplinary programme. The programme will have two facets; one in disciplines where plasma properties can be exploited as a tool and the second where the core technologies relevant to plasma sciences need to be developed.
A. Plasma Science Enabled Technologies

A. Technologies for Plasma Science

A. Mechanism for Implementing the Cross-Disciplinary Programme

The proposed programme aims at developing interfaces with a large number of disciplines in science and engineering. The success of the proposed programme depends critically on the excitement and interest that can be created among the scientific community from those disciplines. The following strategy is proposed :

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HIGH ENERGY PHYSICS

International Scene

High Energy Physics in universally recognised as a challenging and frontline area of Physical Sciences. Its basic aim is to uncover the fundamental constituents of nature and the laws governing their interactions. There has been remarkable progress in HEP in the last twenty years and one has been able to uncover one whole new layer of matter in this period. This is quite unprecedented in the history of mankind. As per the current understanding, the basic constituents of matter are six leptons and six quarks. There are four basic interactions among these particles out of which gravitational interaction is too weak to have any perceptible effect in the foreseeable future. The other three are all gauge interactions mediated by few gauge bosons. Whereas the strong interaction is described by the gauge group SU(3), the unified description of the weak and electromagnetic interaction is given in terms of the gauge group SU(2) x U(1) and the model describing these three interactions is popularly known as the "Standard Model".

For the last 10-15 years, this model is continuously being tested and till today its predictions are in remarkable agreement with almost all experiments. At the time of the last thrust area meeting in 1989, there were two major missing pieces in the standard model namely the top quark and the Higgs boson. However, the top quark has now been discovered at Fermilab Tevatron.

The last missing piece in the standard model is the Higgs boson. However, so far one does not understand the nature of the electroweak symmetry breaking in the standard model and as a result there is no firm prediction in the standard model about the Higgs particle mass. Understanding the nature of this symmetry breaking remains one of the most fundamental issues in HEP. One of the major aims of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) which is being built at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland is to look for Higgs bosons up to a mass range of about 1 TeV. This is going to be one of the major activities in experimental HEP in coming 10-15 years.

While Higgs discovery will fit in the last missing piece of the standard model jigsaw puzzle, it is becoming fairly clear that the standard model cannot be the ultimate theory. There are several basic issues which cannot even be asked within the standard model. One of the major HEP activities in last 15 years or so has been to build models beyond the standard model which can answer some of these questions. Here, it must be made clear that so far no realistic model exists which can successfully answer all the questions. Among all these attempts, the ideas of supersymmetry and grand unification are worth mentioning. These models predict several new exotic particles none of which have been detected as yet and one of the aims of the LHC is also to search for some of these particles.

Thus, today HEP is at an interesting crossroad and one does not know which direction to follow. Not surprisingly, people are trying to explore several new directions. Some of these are, rigorous examination of the standard model, CP-violation, neutrino masses and oscillation etc.

On the formal side, it is widely felt that the ultimate unification of fundamental forces must also include gravity. One significant attempt in this direction is string Theory. There is no doubt that string theory represents the only known (perturbatively) consistent quantum theory of gravity. Recent developments about duality symmetry in string theory have added some fresh vigor to the theory. One of the remarkable offshoots of these developments has been a nonperturbative proof of colour confinement and chiral symmetry breaking in 4-dimensional supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory.

One of the major strengths of HEP is its wide interface with several other areas of Science. Special mention may be made of the areas of Condensed Matter Physics, Astrophysics, Nuclear Physics, Quantum Mechanics, Accelerator Physics and even Mathematics. This interaction has been mutually beneficial. Particular mention may be made of the area of "astro-particle physics" which has specially emerged in the last 5-10 years. Another such area is that of relativistic heavy ion collisions where both nuclear and particle physicists are interested in searching for