Physics

The Department

The department presently offers BSc (Hons) Physics with Research, M. Sc. and Ph. D. programmes in Physics. The department has eight permanent teaching positions and three non-teaching staff. There are about 70 students in the under graduate programme and about 24 students in  the post graduate programme. Three students are working towards their Ph. D degree.
The year 2019-20 was the Jubilee Year of the department. It is celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of B. Sc programme, Silver Jubilee of M. Sc programme and 20th anniversary of the establishment of the Research Centre.
The Astronomy Club attached to the department organizes night sky observations and popular lectures on astronomy.

Recent News

• National Conference NCSSAA 26
• 
  Seventh Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture
• 
  ASPIRE Scholarship 2025–2026
• 
  Selection as Agniveer
• Workshop on Data Analysis Techniques XRD

Admissions to BSc (Hons) Programmes

Specialities of Four Year Undergraduate Programme

Department of Physics offers B.Sc. Physics (Hons) with two specialisations – Material Science & Medical Physics and Instrumentation enabling students to complete BSc with two specialisations. Three courses of each specialisation will be offered during 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th semesters. Internship opportunities will be given in each specialisation. Students with requisite credits/grades can continue to complete B.Sc. Physics (Hons) in the fourth year.

Website: https://mtct.ac.in/physics
E-mail : physics@marthomacollege.org

Programmes

1. BSc (Hons) Physics with Research (Specialisation : Material Science, Medical Physics and Instrumentation) (2024 Admission onwards)
   • – Syllabus 2024 Admission Onwards
2. B. Sc. Physics Model I (Upto 2023 Admission)
   • – Syllabus 2017 Admission onwards, Prior to 2017 admissions
3. M. Sc. Physics (Specialization : Material Science)
   • – Syllabus 2019 Admission onwards, 2012 – 2018 Admissions
4. Ph. D
   • Space / Astrophysical Plasma Physics, Solar Terrestrial Physics, Thin Film Science, Radiation Physics, Nanomaterials.

Physics Association

The Physics association is a collective of the students and faculty of the department. Faculty in charge of final year B. Sc. serves as the President. Student secretaries and representatives along with other faculty forms the executive committee. Physics Association organises various academic and co-curricular activities.

• Physics Association, 2020-21, organised student support and career guidance programmes. Mr. Jay Krishnan (Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, Germany) and Mr. Syam Prasad (IIT, Hyderabad) were the resource persons.
• Physics Association 2021-22 – Inauguration was done by Dr. Shyama Narendranath, ISRO scientist on 4th October 2021. Members of the association carried out energy audit in the college campus.
• Physics Association 2022-23 – Dr. Praveen C.S., International School of Photonics, CUSAT inaugurated the Association activities and gave talk on “Understanding the uncertainties in the quantum world: A pedestrian overview”.

Major Academic Activities

• Annual Lecture – Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture instituted by the family members of Prof. Chellamma Mathew since 2021 in the month of February every year.
• International Physics Colloquia organized from 7th to 11th Sept. 2020 was inaugurated by Prof (Dr.) Sabu Thomas H’ble Vice Chancellor MG University Kottayam. The resource persons were Prof. Alex Schechter, Ariel University, Israel, Dr. Nitin Mohan, IIT Kanpur, Dr. S. Sandeep, IIT, Delhi, Dr. Reju Sam John, University of Auckland, New Zealand, Dr. V. Sreenath, NIT Karnataka.
• Erudite  – Scholar in Residence Programme was organized from 21st to 27th Feb. 2021. The progamme was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Sabu Thomas, H’ble Vice Chancellor, MG University, Kottayam. Prof. Raju V. Ramanujan, NTU Singapore and Prof. Rahul R. Nair, Manchester University, UK led the sessions.
• Faculty Development Programme on LaTeX organized by Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla and Spoken tutorial Project, IIT Bombay from 17th to 21st Aug. 2020.
• Certificate course by ANERT  – Er. Sunny John, Chief Engineer (Transmission South), KSEB inaugurated a certificate course on ‘Roof Top Solar PV systems’ offered by ANERT, Govt. Of Kerala on 27 th Nov. 2021. An MOU was also signed with ANERT for the conduct of the course.
• Science exhibition – The department organised a science exhibition for higher secondary students on 12th Nov 2022 as a part of Science Fest in the college.
• Centre for Science Learning – The department is actively involved in an outreach program in association with Mar Thoma Suvisesha Sevika Sanghom and St. Berchman’s College Changanasserry at MTSS KG & UP School Manjadi. Aurora, Centre for Science Learning helps the school students to experience science through experiments.

Regular Activities / Observance of days of National Importance

• National Science Day, 2021 – Delivered an invited talk on Nanotechnology evolution and Scope for next century by Dr. Swapna S Nair, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod on 20th Feb. 2021
• Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture, 2021– Prof. Dr. John Philip, IGCAR, Kalpakkam delivered the memorial lecture on 17 th March 2021. Title of the talk was “How materials have been transforming our lives?”
• World Space Week 2021 –  Inauguration was done by Dr. Shyama Narendranath, ISRO scientist on 4th October 2021. On 5 th October , 2021, association had organized an invited lecture by Dr. Annapurni Subramaniam, Director, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore on the topic, “Astronomy and Astrophysics-Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Mathematics of the Universe”. Various competitions like Power Point Presentation on Women in Space, Newspaper designing (Theme- Wonders in Space) & Night Sky Photography were conducted. Valedictory function of space week celebration was held on 26 th October, 2021. Also, a Peer Learning Programme was also arranged and during the session, Ms. Sajitha K Anas, M.Sc. Space Science, St. Albert’s College, Ernakulam delivered a talk on ‘Space-Beyond the Limit’ and Ms. Ashlin Ann Zachariah and Ms. Shimna S. Thottumkal, M.Sc. Physics, Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla gave a presentation on ‘Nobel Prize in Physics, 2021’.
• National Energy Conservation Day, 2021 – The department published a survey report of energy audit on Energy Utilization and various energy conservation methods to the public. Also, the department conducted a Poster Competition of students of the department with theme ‘Energy Efficient India.”
• National Science Day, 2022 –  Dr. Sachin P.C., Assistant Professor, Fatima Matha National College, Kollam, delivered an Invited Talk on “Sky and Beyond”. Students participated in Power Point presentations on relevant topics related to science.
• Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture, 2022 – 25th Feb 2022 – Dr. Jinesh K B, Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), Thiruvananthapuram delivered the memorial lecture on “Artificial Brain for Artificial Intelligence”.
• National Energy Conservation Day, 2022 – The department organised a one day seminar on 14th Dec 2022. Er. Ninian C. Mathews, Executive Engineer, KSEB Tiruvalla delivered the main talk.
• Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture, 2023 – Prof. Praveen C Ramamoorthy, Department of Materials Engineering, IISc. Bangalore delivered the memorial lecture.
• Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture, 2024 –  Prof. (Dr.) Anand Narayanan, IIST, Thiruvananthapuram delivered the memorial lecture on “The Large Scale Structure of the Universe”.
• World Space Week 2024 – The Physics Association celebrated World Space Week on October 8, 2024 with the focus theme “Space and Climate Change”, in alignment with UN Sustainable Development Goal 13 on Climate Action. Ms. Elizabeth Thomas, Research Scholar, Department of Physics delivered a talk on “Sun influencing our daily life”. A poster exhibition was also arranged in connection with the focus theme of World Space Week 2024. An intercollegiate presentation competition was also arranged.
• Prof. Chellamma Mathew Memorial Lecture, 2025 – Dr. K. Rajendran, Director, Institute for Climate Change Studies, Kottayam delivered the memorial lecture entitled “Climate Change: Theory, Modelling and Future Directions”.

Certificate / Add-on courses

• Certificate Course on Roof Top Solar PV systems in collaboration with ANERT, Tiruvananthapuram.
• Add-On course on Electrical Equipment Maintenance under  Skill Development Centre.
• Certificate courses offered by IIRS-ISRO on Remote Sensing and allied areas, in collaboration with Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.

Student Support Programmes

• An interaction session with a special focus on IIT JAM and JEST organised by Physics Association on 8 th August 2020. Mr. Jay Krishnan (Eberhard Karls University of Tubingen, Germany), was the resource person.
• A career guidance programme was organised by the Physics Association in “Academic and Research Opportunities in Physics” on 25 th July 2020. Mr. Syam Prasad, Research Scholar, IIT Hyderabad, was the resource person.
• An Alumni interaction session with first year UG students was conducted during the Bridge Course on 26th to 28th September 2022.
• As a part of Entrepreneurship training, the students of the department had assembled switch boards for commercial and residential purposes

Details of MoU

• An MoU has been executed between ANERT, Thiruvananthapuram and Department of physics, Mar Thoma College, Tiruvalla in 2021 for academic collaboration for organising courses and to associate on renewable energy initiatives.
• Department of Physics has signed an MoU with University of Johannesburg, South Africa in 2023 for student and faculty exchange programs and research collaborations in the field of material science.

Faculty

Research Activities

The department is actively involved in research in the field of Radiation Physics, Astrophysical / Space Plasma Physics, Solar – Terrestrial Physics, Thin Films, etc. The department is recognized as a research centre by Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam.

Research Guides

• Dr. Samuel Mathew (Retired)
• Dr. Angel Susan Cherian
• Dr. Noble P. Abraham
• Dr. I John Berlin
• Dr. Arun Vinod
• Dr. Suresh M.K. (St. Thomas College, Ranni)
• Dr. Paulose Thomas (Mar Thoma College for Women, Perumbavoor)

Ph. D. Awarded

• Rajagopalan, M, Study of natural radioactivity in the Island Environs of Kochi (2014).
  • Supervisor: Dr. Samuel Mathew
• Feba Job , Studies on the fabrication of dye sensitized solar cells and their characterization (2023)
  • Supervisor: Dr. Samuel Mathew
• Vineeth S., Investigations on Non-linear Waves in Dusty Plasma Environments (2025)
  • Supervisor: Dr. Noble P. Abraham
• Elizabeth Thomas, Association of climatic changes with solar activity (2025)
  • Supervisor: Dr. Noble P. Abraham

Research Facilities

The centre has a research room facilitating synthesis of materials required by the researchers. The centre also utilizes the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), UV/Vis Spectrophotometer, FTIR Spectrometer and High Vacuum thin film coating unit installed at the DST / FIST lab.

Recent Publications

Google Scholar profiles of faculty and research scholars

• Dr. Angel Susan Cherian
• Dr. Noble P. Abraham
• Dr. I. John Berlin
• Dr. Arun Vinod
• Dr. Anju K. Nair
• Vineeth S. (deceased)
• Elizabeth Thomas
• Ens Mathews
• Indu Reena Varughese

Facilities

The Physics department has well-equipped laboratories for undergraduate and postgraduate students.
The undergraduate laboratory has multiple units of various General Physics, Optics, Electronics experiments prescribed in the curriculum so that more students can learn the experiment simultaneously.
The post-graduate laboratories have separate sections for General Physics and Electronics experiments. A separate lab, with an attached dark room, for spectroscopy and LASER experiments is also set up. The computer science / virtual lab has about 12 PCs running Microsoft Windows / Linux. A Microprocessor lab is also functional in the department.
The department also has a research lab for synthesizing samples of thin-film materials. The department also utilizes the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS), UV/Vis Spectrophotometer, FTIR Spectrometer, and High Vacuum thin film coating unit installed at the DST / FIST lab.
The Astronomy Club attached to the department has two telescopes for night sky observations.

Physics Alumni

Physics Alumni Gettogether

A general body meeting of the Physics Alumni was held on 20th November 2018.

An Alumni Gettogether of Department of Physics was held on 7th March 2016 at the Golden Jubilee Seminar Hall

Alumni of the department are placed in India and abroad in various capacities. A database of the alumni is maintained.

Student’s Corner

Nodal Centres
Amrita VALUE
IIRS Outreach Programmes
Virtual Labs
Amrita VALUE
Astrophysics IIT Kanpur
Electronics IIT Bombay
Digital Logic Design – IIT Hyderabad
Digital Electronics – IIT Roorkee
Computer Programming – IIT Hyderabad
Some Online C++ Compilers
JDoodleOnline C++ compiler
Codechef (Select C++17 gcc9.1 compiler)
OnlineGDB

Former Faculty

1. Prof. M. J. George (Late)
2. Prof. Chellamma Mathew (Late)
3. Prof. Kurien V. M.
4. Dr. John Mathai K.
5. Prof. Abraham Varghese
6. Prof. Varghese Chacko
7. Prof. Jacob Mathew (Late)
8. Dr. K. V. Kurien
9. Prof. P. J. Joseph (Late)
10. Dr. Kadambari Haravu
11. Prof. P. S. Jacob
12. Prof. Philip N. Thomas
13. Prof. John Varghese
14. Prof. Sam Philip M. (Late)
15. Rev. Dr. Alexander Abraham
16. Prof. P. C. Thomas
17. Prof. E. V. Thomas
18. Dr. Abraham C. Varghese
19. Prof. Pillai Sobha
20. Prof. K. G. Thomas
21. Prof. Thomas T. George
22. Prof. Elizabeth George K.
23. Dr. P. K. Subhadradevi
24. Dr. Mathew Arun Thomas
25. Dr. Samuel Mathew

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