My recent work seems to be mostly around exploring elementary phenomena, often through analogies, using solid state systems. Some of the themes have been:

• Observable effects of zero-point motion of atoms [electric field of zero-point phonons, bandgap renormalization due to zero-pt motion of atoms]
• First-order phase transitions [Metastable phases, hysteresis, kinetic spinodals]
• Coherence and diffraction
• Hydrogen atom (astro-)physics with excitons [Pressure (Kothari) and thermal (Saha) ionization, effect of perturbing electric and magnetic fields..]
  

The experimental techniques we use include low temperature transport (resistance, magnetoresistance, Hall, resistance noise), thermal analysis (latent heat), and optical spectroscopy (photoluminescence, magneto-photoluminescence, absorption, time-resolved excitation-correlation PL..). We also have a homemade pulsed magnet [35 tesla!] to assist in spectroscopy and transport studies. My colleague Bipul Pal and I share the spectroscopy laboratory and have been closely cooperating on many problems.

Selected Publications*  [Complete list]

• Critical slowing down at the abrupt Mott transition: When the first-order phase transition becomes zeroth-order and looks like second-order, Satyaki Kundu, Tapas Bar, Rajesh Kumble Nayak, Bhavtosh Bansal, 2020, Physical Review Letters, 124, 095703 [abstract] [pdf]

• Kinetic spinodal instabilities in the Mott transition in V₂O₃: Evidence from hysteresis scaling and dissipative phase ordering, Tapas Bar, Sujeet Kumar Choudhary, Md. Arsalan Ashraf, K. S. Sujith, Sanjay Puri, Satyabrata Raj, Bhavtosh Bansal, 2018, Physical Review Letters 121, 045701 [abstract] [pdf]

• Measurements of the electric field of zero-point optical phonons in GaAs quantum wells support the Urbach rule for zero-temperature lifetime broadening, Rupak Bhattacharya, Richarj Mondal, Pradip Khatua, A. Rudra, E. Kapon, S. Malzer, G. Doehler, Bipul Pal, Bhavtosh Bansal, 2015, Physical Review Letters 114, 047402. [abstract] [pdf]  [supplementary]
  

• Single-slit electron diffraction with Aharonov-Bohm phase: Feynman's thought experiment with quantum point contacts, Pradip Khatua, Bhavtosh Bansal, Dan Shahar, 2014, Physical Review Letters 112, 010403
  [pdf] [supplementary] [journal] [synopsis] [story in a German physics portal]

• Self-Assembly in semiconductor epitaxy: From growth mechanisms to device applications, Arnab Bhattacharya and Bhavtosh Bansal, Chapter 26 Handbook of Crystal Growth Vol. 3, 2nd Edition, Elsevier 2015, 1057–1099 Ed T. Kuech [abstract] [pdf] [Review]
  


• High-field magneto-photoluminescence of semiconductor nanostructures, Manus Hayne, Bhavtosh Bansal, 2012, Luminescence 27, 179 [pdf] [journal] [Review]
  

*Colon in the title indicates that the paper is full of shit :)


Current Group

• Tapas Bar (PhD)
  
• Kingshuk Mukhuti (PhD)
  
• Basabendra Roy (PhD)
  
• Satyaki Kundu (PhD)
• Deepesh Kalauni (PhD)
• Samyajit Gayen  (MS)
  

Alumni: Richarj Mondal (PhD 2015), Sumi Bhuyan (PhD 2017), Rupak Bhattacharya (PhD 2017), Md Arsalan Ashraf (MS 2014), Sujeet K. Choudhary (MS 2015), Sujith K. S. (MS 2015), Anees A. A. (MS 2016), Ajmal Kareem (MS 2016), Kiran Kumar S. (MS 2016), Anjana K. (MS 2017), Kamal Raj R. (MS 2017), Mithun S.Prasad (MS 2017), Shruti J. S. (MS 2018), Umesh Chandra Sahu (MS 2019)

Teaching

Lecture Courses

• Advanced Statistical Physics (Spring 2018) [Spring 2019]
• Thermal Physics (Spring 2017)
• Basic Statistical Mechanics (Spring 2016, 2015)
• Physics III (Oscillations, Waves, and Optics) (Autumn 2013, 2012)
• Intermediate Electricity and Magnetism (Autumn 2010, 2011)

Laboratory Courses

• First year Physics Laboratory (Autumn 2018, Autumn 2017, Autumn 2014, Spring 2014)
• Condensed Matter Laboratory (Autumn 2019, 2016, 2015)
• Advanced Experimental Laboratory (Spring 2014)
• Waves and Optics Lab (2nd Yr) [Spring 2011, 2012]

Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach.
-George Bernard Shaw