AJP	ISSN : 0971 – 3093 Vol  17,  No. 2, April-June, 2008

Asian
Journal of Physics

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Vol  17,  No. 2, April-June, 2008

CONTENTS

 

 

Editorial

About the Guest Editors

 

Guest Editorial  : A professor’s bounty: in remembrance of Prof Prasad Khastgir

Pankaj K Choudhuty and Pradip K Jain

 

Prasad Khastgir, my mentor

Akhlesh Lakhtakia

 

Professor Prasad Ranjan Khastgir—a Reminiscence

B N Basu

 

The future of optoelectronics technology

Pankaj K Choudhury and Akhlesh Lakhtakia

181

 

Morphological influence on surface-wave propagation at the planar interface of a metal film and a columnar thin film

Akhlesh Lakhtakia and John A Polo Jr

185

 

A survey of the techniques for nondestructive electrical characterization of materials at microwave frequencies

Devendra K Mishra 

193

 

Micro mirror based Hadamard transform spectrometer                     

Sachin Singh, Banmali S Rawat, Moncef B Tayahi, Marian Hanf Steffen Kurth and Thomas Gessner 

203

 

Electrically controlled Bragg resonances of an ambichiral electro-optic structure: oblique incidence

Mukul Dixit and Akhlesh Lakhtakia

213

 

Novel nanomaterials synthesis by laser-liquid-solid interaction

Jogender Singh

225

 

An experimental investigation of double-pass erbium-doped optical amplifier with Tunable band-pass filter

Shankar  S Pathmanathan, Hairul A abdul-Rashid and Pankaj K Choudhury 

241

Cited: 2 times

 

Modeling and simulation of all-optical intelligent routed networks Under traffic control protocols

V K Chaubey 

245

 

Modeling of the power budget of remotely pumped long haul OFCS incorporated with Pre-EDFA and DRA

Nadir Hossain,V Mishra, A W Naji, M A Hasnayeen and A R Faidz

253

 

Particle physics with extra dimensions: State- of the-Aart

Md Mijanur Rahman and Pankaj K Choudhury

263

cited: 5 times

 

Design of low power SRAM cell for write/read operation

Ajay Kumar Singh and CMR

273

 

Simulation of resonant meander-line attenuators for high-power helix traveling-wave tubes

A K Agrawal, S Raina, Rajkumar and Sudhir Kamath

279

 

OFDM based QOS and capacity enhancement for mobile networks

Chhaya Dalela, P K Dalela and D Chandra 

285

 

Electromagnetic analysis of ohmic quality factor for the tapered gyrotron cavity

Inderjit Singh, Umesh Kumar, Vishal Kesari, P K Jain and B N Basu 

289

 

Radiation characteristics of modified box-horn with metamaterial

Pankaj Sood and S P Singh

297

 

Microwave response of vegetation lady’s finger by bistatic scatterometer

R Prasad, D Singh and K P Singh

303

 

A simple analysis of backward-wave oscillation criterion for helix traveling-wave tubes

Subrata K Datta, P Sidharthan, P Raja Ramana Rao and S U M

307

 

Patch antenna on biased ferrite substrate—Role of orientation of magnetic field in frequency agility

Vijay K Pandey, A Srivastav and B R Vishvakarma

313

Prasad Khastgir, my mentor

 

Akhlesh Lakhtakia

 Department of Engineering Science and Mechanics Pennsylvania State University

University Park, PA 16802, USA

Early during my third year as a B.Tech. (Electronics Engg.) student at the Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, I met Prof Prasad Khastgir. He was my teacher in a course on modern physics. He would walk into the classroom, address the students as “Friends,” and begin to ruminate on the topic of the day. His teaching style was very different from those of other professors: neither would he provide copious notes on the blackboard, nor would he make us solve numerous problems in the classroom. Instead, he would ask questions, most of which he would answer himself. He would also invite questions, and would answer them too! In-class examinations seemed to matter little to him. I sensed that not only was he not interested in testing us (and failing some students), but that he wanted each one of us to develop his or her innate capacity to learn. His was a refreshing approach, one that I have adopted during my teaching career at Penn State as well.

One day, shortly after the Durga Puja vacations, Prof Khastgir invited me to visit him at his home that evening. I was flattered: here was a respected professor inviting an undergraduate student to partake refreshments with him, that too at his home. I had never been to a professor’s home before. Surely, it must be different from my parents’, neither of whom was a professor. What wonderful treasures must exist in a professor’s home?

          The evening was magical. I remember arriving a few minutes earlier than the planned 6 pm. The door of the house (New G 13, Hyderabad Colony, BHU) was open. I entered a drawing room with a sofa, a divan, a couple of chairs, a cabinet of curios, and two sets of shelves replete with books. Some books were piled on the floor as well. The titles of the books were fascinating. They ranged from physics to philosophy to literary criticism. Most were in English, but I spotted a few in Hindi and Bangla as well. A young child came from another door into the room. I told him that I had come to see Prof Khastgir. He asked me to sit down. “Baba would be along shortly.”

          Prof  Khastgir came out in a few minutes, dressed in the same clothes in which he had taught me earlier in the day. After some pleasantries had been exchanged, he enquired about my hostel accommodations and my family, and then asked me if, while living in Lucknow, I had ever taken any interest in kathak, thumri, and dadra. No I had not, I replied, I knew nothing about Hindustani classical music. So he enquired about my taste in Western classical music. Sadly, I knew nothing about Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach either.

          Just about then, before our conversation could pall (I thought), someone else came to the house, and then a third person. Within a few minutes, the drawing room was full of students chattering about music, literature, and even some politics. I was fascinated. So, this is what a salon must be, I thought.

          Prof. Khastgir presided at this salon. Actually, “presided” is too authoritarian a word for him. He merely “guided” any conversation that had petered into silence, From time to time, someone would appeal to his authority, and he would provide his view. Mrs  Khastgir would send copious amounts of tea to lubricate the conversations. Some savories also were supplied occasionally. But most people were interested mostly in conversations. Around 9 pm, the drawing room emptied.

          Well, I became a regular visitor to his salons for the remaining two years and a half of my studentship at IT. Often we would sit in Prof  Khastgir’s drawing room, sipping cups of tea; but sometimes a few of us would sally forth for a long walk with him under the mango trees. I met students and professors from diverse BHU colleges. We discussed the metaphysical writings of Henri Poincaré and the foibles of the English upper class as described hilariously by P G Wodehouse. Occasionally, someone would bring over a gramophone. I came to love Harry Belafonte, especially Jamaica Farewell (“Down the way where the nights are gay/ And the sun shines daily on the mountain top”) and Banana Boat (“Come, Mr Tally Man, tally me banana/ Daylight come and we wanna go home”). I discovered the mellifluous voice of Jagjit Singh, and Amir Meenai’s ghazal “Saraktii jaai hai rukh se naqaab aahistaa aahistaa” became my favorite. I became convinced that science, mathematics, and engineering must be accorded the status of liberal arts. I came to appreciate Bimal Mitra and Sharat Chandra Chattopadhyay more than Rabindra Nath Tagore, despite the efforts to the contrary of several regulars at the salons. In short, impressionable as I must then have been, Prof Khastgir’s simple invitation one day ended up molding my intellectual consciousness and my ways of interacting with the world. What a great gift my mentor gave me!

          I left IT mid-1979 and India soon thereafter. In Salt Lake City, Utah and later in State College, Pennsylvania, I would often think of Prof Khastgir. Communications in those days were not as easy as nowadays. I also had a research and teaching career to develop. My contact with Prof Khastgir dried up.

          Then in December 1990,1 visited the Electronics Engineering Department in IT. Prof Khastgir came to attend my seminar. We spent a few minutes together afterwards. He was still his jolly self. Apart from arthritis and sundry other ailments, he informed me that he was very well indeed. Two years later, I was fortunate to spend a week delivering a short course on electromagnetics and optics in the Applied Physics Department. He was then heading that department. Our discussions encompassed the extended boundary condition method, ever.isotropic chirality, Green functions, and much more. I also spent one evening at his salon. It was as vibrant as ever

          In December 1995, 1 took my daughter, Natalya to IT for a short visit. Prof Khastgir made a point of regularly enquiring about her progress thereafter. We began to communicate by postal mail several times a year. Once in awhile, I would call him on the telephone from State College. Whenever I visited BHU, I would spend some time with him, until he retired to Chandan Nagar.

          I last spoke to him in February 2006, when I was visiting Pradip Jain in the Electronics Engineering Department. Prof Khastgir was in Chandan Nagar then. Although in great pain from his arthritis and suffering from diabetes and a handful of other medical problems, he sounded cheerful. Thus, the news of his demise a few months later was a shock, although I realized that it must have come as a blessing to him.

 Vol. 17, No.2 (2008) 181-183

The future of optoelectronics technology

 

Pankaj K. Choudhury¹ and Akhlesh Lakhtakia²

¹Faculty of Engineering, Multimedia University, Cyberjaya 63100, Selangor, Malaysia

R&D opportunities in optoelectronics technology exist in the areas of performance improvement, cost reduction, high-volume manufacturing, and integration with other technologies. Developments will be crucial to the expansion of the markets for optical communication, optical data storage, optical imaging, optical computing, and optical sensing systems. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved.

The Future of optoelectronics Technology.pdf

Pankaj K Choudhury and Akhlesh Lakhtakia

 Vol. 17, No.2 (2008) 185-191

Morphological influence on surface—wave propagation at the planar interface of a metal film and a columnar-thin film

 

Akhlesh Lakhtakia¹ and John A. Polo, Jr.²

¹Department of Engineering Science & Mechanics,

Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.

²Department of Physics and Technology,

The selection of a higher vapor deposition angle when growing a columnar thin film (CTF) leads to surface-wave propagation at a planar metal-CTF interface with phase velocity of lower magnitude and shorter propagation range. Acordingly, a higher angle of plane-wave incidence is required to excite that surface wave in a modified Kretschmann configuration. © Anita Publications. All rights reserved

Morphological influence on surface—wave propagation at the planar interface of a metal film and a columnar-thin film.pdf

 Vol. 17, No.2 (2008) 253-262

Modeling of the power budget of remotely pumped long haul OFCS incorporated with Pre-EDFA and DRA

 

Nadir Hossain,V Mishra, A W Naji, M A Hasnayeen and A R Faidz

This paper focuses on the modeling of the power budget of remotely pumped long haul optical fiber communication system (OFCS) incorporated with an Erbium doped fiber amplifier in the pre-length (Pre-EDFA) and distributed Raman amplifier (DRA). Signal loss in the post- and pre-length as well as signal gain by the Pre-EDFA and DRA are simulated to determine the maximum achievable transmission distance of a remotely pumped long haul OFCS incorporated with pre-EDFA and DRA. Design parameters of pre-EDFA are optimized using the numerical simulation of EDFA rate equation model in order to optimize the pre-EDFA. DRA mathematical model is solved numerically to analyze the signal propagation characteristics through the pre-length due to DRA. The results obtained frorn the numerical simulation of EDFA and DRA mathematical model are used in the modeling of the power budget of remotely pumped long haul OFCS incorporated with pre-EDFA and DRA. The developed model can be used to design and analyze the performance of a long haul OFCS link and to optimize the system performance. ©Anita Publications. All rights reserved.

Modeling of the power budget of remotely pumped long haul OFCS incorporated with Pre-EDFA and DRA.pdf

Nadir Hossain, V Mishra, A W Naji, M A Hasnayeen and A R Faidz