Postdocs

1. Dr. Janmeyjay Panda [Sep 2025 - present] Janmey is working on developing characterization approaches for PICs and more specifically QKD. He brings a lot of expertise in optical characterization and system development to the team.

PhD Students

1. Jinal Tapar [Aug 2017 - Oct 2021] Jinal’s research was focused on novel nanoscale light sources based on semiconductor resonators. After PhD she worked at A*STAR and University of Glasgow. She is currently with Seagate Technologies as R&D Enginer - PIC.
2. Saurabh Kishen [Nov 2017 - June 2023] Saurabh’s research was focused on the study of electrical excitation of plasmons in metallic nanostructures. After PhD he joined TSMC in Hsinchu as R&D engineer and he is currently working on integrated photonics.
3. Vinod Sharma [Aug 2019 - Dec 2025] Vinod will be submitting his thesis on Graphene-based photodetectors.
4. Saptarshi Pathak [Aug 2021 - present], co-supervisor Saptarshi is an external PhD student working on GaAs based THz Schottky Barrier Diodes(SBDs).
5. Ritu [Aug 2023 - present] Ritu’s PhD research is focussed on the design, modelling and characterization of on-chip lasers using InP platform.
6. Nandana P K [Jan 2024 - present] Nandana’s PhD research is focussed on the design, modelling and characterization of modulators and driver circuitry for on-chip devices.

Postgraduate and Undergraduate Students

Over the years a number of postgraduate and undergraduate students worked in the lab. Many of them have made lasting academic and research contributions. It’s impossible to capture the efforts of everyone, but we still fondly remember the following students for their contributions.

1. Gaurav Yadav [MTech, Aug 2018 - July 2020] Gaurav joined TSMC after graduation.
2. P Sahaan [MTech, Jul 2020 - July 2022] Sahaan joined TSMC after graduation.
3. Sourav Das [MTech, Aug 2022 - July 2022] Sourav joined Qualcomm after graduation.

Full text of manuscripts below can be shared upon request.

21. Saurabh Kishen, Vinod Sharma, Jinal Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Electrically driven MIM tunnel junctions for polarized light generation. Optics Continuum, 4, 11, (2025). [ doi ]
22. Vinod Sharma, Jinal Tapar, Oves Badami and Naresh Kumar Emani. Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Photoresponse in Graphene-based PIN Junction Devices. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 24, 504, (2025). [ doi ]
23. Saptarshi Pathak, Aluguri Rakesh, G Sai Saravanan, Shiv Govind Singh and Naresh Kumar Emani. Accurate Leakage Current Modeling of THz Schottky Barrier Diodes Using a Bias-Dependent Junction Resistor. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 72, 7, (2025). [ doi ]
24. Saurabh Kishen, Jinal Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Tunable directional emission from electrically driven nano-strip metal-insulator-metal tunnel junctions. Nanoscale Advances, 4, 17, (2022). [ doi ]
25. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Generalized kerker effect in PT-symmetric nanoantenna array. Journal of Optics, 24, 3, (2022). [ doi ]
26. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Dynamically Tunable Asymmetric Transmission in PT-Symmetric Phase Gradient Metasurface. ACS Photonics (2021). [ doi ]
27. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Spectral singularities and asymmetric light scattering in PT-symmetric 2D nanoantenna arrays. Optics Letters, 45, 18, pp. 5185-5188 (2020). [ doi ]
28. Saurabh Kishen, Jinal Kiran Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Enhanced light emission from gap plasmons in nano-strip MIM tunnel junctions. Journal of Optics, 22, 095006 (2020). [ doi ]
29. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen, Kumar Prashant, Kaushik Nayak and Naresh Kumar Emani. Enhancement of the optical gain in GaAs nanocylinders for nanophotonic applications. Journal of Applied Physics, 127, 153102 (2020). [  doi ]

See publications based on research before joining IITH »

• April 2022 Dr. Jinal Tapar joined A*STAR Singapore as a scientist. Congratulations and best wishes for her career!
• April 2022 Saurabh and Vinod presented their research at SPIE Photonics Europe held at Strasbourg, France.
• October 2021 Jinal Tapar defended her thesis! Congratulations Dr. Jinal Tapar!
• September 2020 Jinal presented her research at Frontiers in Optics conference held virtually this year. See the Dielectric Nanophotonics project for a video of the talk.
• August 2020 Jinal’s research on Spectral singularities in 2D array of PT symmetric resonators is accepted for publication in Optics Letters.
• August 2020 Saurabh’s research work on enhancing the efficiency of light emission from MIM tunnel junctions is published in Journal of Optics.
• July 2020 Gaurav submitted his MTech thesis on Design of Programmable Delay Generator with 10 ps Resolution. He will be joining TSMC in their Physical Design department. Congratulations Gaurav and Good luck!
• April 2020 Jinal’s work on Enhancement of optical gain in GaAs nanostructures is published in Journal of Applied Physics.

MOOC Courses on NPTEL/Swayam Platform

I have offered the following courses on NPTEL platform. The course lectures are available on youtube free of charge. The courses are typically re-run by NPTEL in July-Oct term where the students can register and obtain a certificate by taking an exam.

1. Introduction to Semiconductor Devices - Course Preview, Archive and Youtube Playlist
2. Fundamentals of Nano and Quantum Photonics - Course Preview, Archive and Youtube Playlist

Youtube Videos on Scientific Presentations

Communicating science is an essential part of a scientific career. Everyone is busy in their lives and would not pay attention to your work unless you make an effort to communicate it clearly. Here are some resources to get you started.

1. Designing Effective Scientific Presentations by Prof. Susan McConnel
2. Creating effective slides: Design, Construction, and Use in Science - Dr. Jean-luc Doumont

Facets of Academic and Research Life

1. You and Your Research - A talk by R W Hamming on what leads to great research
2. Graduate School Survival Guide - An essay on navigating graduate school by Ronald Azuma. The essay is written from CS grad student perspective, but most of the contents are applicable to other disciplines as well.
3. Recollections of the Schon Scandal by Prof. Doug Natelson of Rice University. This story reemphasizes the need for careful checking and rechecking of research work by every researcher especially in the current frantic race to publish in ‘glossy journals’. Good quality work is hard and time consuming!

We are always on the lookout for motivated students interested in pursuing research in our group. If you think you are a good fit please read the following guidelines

Internship/Project Associate/JRF positions

Please go through the research and recent publication sections carefully. You may not understand the details of the work but it will give you a sense of the type of the work we do. IITH faculty receive a large number of emails from prospective students, and it is not possible to respond to generic emails. Please state briefly your previous education, research/project experience and why you are interested in this work. A well-crafted email will improve your chances of getting a response.

IITH Students

If our research seems to be of interest to you, and you would like to do your project/thesis in our group, please think about the following:

• What are end results you hope to achieve - Job, PhD, Post-doc, research exposure, etc?
• Einstein once said “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” You would be expected to work hard on your research topics, scientific communication and also contribute to the lab development.
• Please go through some papers in the publications section, and see if you would enjoy working in this area. Also, talk to our group members to figure out if you would like the work we do and the way we do it.
• Once you have done the above please send me an email to schedule an appointment to discuss potential openings.

Letters of recommendation

Letters of recommendation are an integral part of an academic career. I will be happy to write letters of recommendation if you meet the following criteria:

1. You have worked on a significant research project with me as a advisor or co-advisor or doctoral committee member (for graduate students)
2. You have taken atleast 2 courses that I offer at IIT Hyderabad, and have been an active participant in class discussions (for BTech students)
3. And more importantly, you have discussed your plans with me well ahead of the deadline - atleast 1 month for BTech students and 1 semester for graduate students
4. If you do not meet the above criteria then the most probable scenario is that I would write a generic letter. This will not help your chances, and you might be better off approaching some one who can give you a strong recommendation